Our travels: Cruise day 3

Our first port of call since leaving Seattle – Juneau. With the very long daylight hours in this part of the world when I woke and the light was starting to peek into our room I knew it was still very early so went back to sleep for a while.

Next time I woke it appeared to be quite light outside so I got up and took a peek through the curtains. What a lovely landscape. I got my thick jacket and slipped out on to the balcony to take a photo of the sun-drenched snow on the ranges. I checked the time – 5.30 am!!!!

Well here’s the pic, but I did go back to bed and back to sleep.

We were not due to dock in Juneau until 11am. So it was a leisurely morning spent reading and glancing up at the scenery from time to time. Around 10 we all met up on the forward outside deck to watch the docking.

There was lots of activity on the water - mostly fishermen going about their daily business. This little boat was just setting its net.

There were already two cruise ships in port when we arrived and another two due in after us. It's quite a juggling act. Our docking point was a little away from town but there was a shuttle running back and forth, so it was not a problem. They do it well here.

Juneau has no road into it - amazing for the capital of the State!! Everything comes in by sea or air. The sea planes were like local sea birds coming and going in a constant stream.

Juneau, as I said, is the capital of Alaska and was originally a mining town – a fortune in gold was taken out of the mountain until the mid-60s when the mines closed. Now the main industries are fishing and tourism. With such a short summer, the cruise ship industry brings in huge amounts of money into the community.

Our ship-board friends waiting to board the tramway up the mountain

We had a private whale watch tour booked through a company that does not take bookings other than over the Internet. There were about 3 boats out from this company and we were lucky because there were only four on our boat. I think they only take 6 or 8 anyway.

We saw the large boats that the cruise ships use for their shore excursions – would not want to be on one of them.

We passed a boat throwing out pieces of fish to entice bald headed eagles to feed. This is strictly not allowed, so this boat was bending the rules. Our boat driver said he would not do it but would most definitely take advantage of someone else doing it for his passengers so we spent some time watching. We were treated to some spectacular flight shows and diving for the fish.

Then it was off to find the whales. We found plenty.

In a channel where the food supply is plentiful there were at least seven humpback whales just cruising around in a small area and we were able to watch the show for about 45 minutes.

The tell-tale blow

View of a glacier with almost road-like tracks of rocks which have rolled to the surface

Then it was back to the marina. We passed by a buoy where some seals treat it like their own personal rock. About three or four were on it and another was trying to join them but the seals already on the buoy weren't having any of it.

They build them BIG in Alaska

We stopped at Mendenhall Glacier on the way back to town, one of the must do’s while in Juneau. Our bus driver was very informative both on the to the boat and on the return journey.

Lots of ice in the water but no calving happened in the short time we were there. There is a massive waterfall adjacent to the glacier which you can walk out to. We did not have time, but you can just see people that had in the picture.