North to (Juneau) Alaska - Day 4

Saturday, September 5

Today was definitely an "OMG" day - but an Oh My God - thank you day. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to find enough adjectives to describe the beauty we saw. All four of us were blown away by our Heavenly Father's wonderful creations.

We arrived in Juneau at 6.00 am and, after a quick breakfast, were off the ship to find a whale watching tour because Juneau is reportedly one of the best places to see humpback whales as they eat and play in the Alaskan waters before heading south to Hawaii to breed. The weather was kind and we had calm seas and the rain stayed away.

Beautiful Auke Bay surrounded by snow-capped mountains

The tour we chose was a combined whale watching and glacier viewing tour. Whale watching was first up and we were bussed to Auke Bay Harbour where we boarded our vessel. The scenery all around us was sensational with the bluest mountains imaginable and their tops capped with snow. Although it wasn't sunny, it was bright and clear and before too long the first whale blow appeared. Whales feed by opening their huge mouths and scooping the fish in but they also intake a lot of water that they expel by blowing out of a vent hole. The spray comes out at about 300 miles an hour (we sneeze at around 40 mph) so the spray reaches 20-30 ft in the air and is a great way to spot where a whale is feeding. There was great excitement at the first sighting but almost immediately, there were another two or three whales that joined in. Soon they were everywhere we looked. They breached, they dived displaying their huge tail fins, they even leapt right out of the water and generally had a great time playing in front of us. Combined with the fabulous backdrop of scenery, we couldn't have asked for more. We spent about an hour and a half watching them and there was always a whale in sight - fantastic!

Whales feeding in the Alaskan waters

We were then taken back to the Harbour dock and bussed to the mountain area to see the Mendenhall Glacier. This was another gob-smacking sight and we were particularly blessed to have the sun come out making the glacier look absolutely beautiful. The blue and green colours are nothing short of amazing. We walked to a waterfall near the base of the glacier - about a 20 minute walk but so worth it. We passed a ranger pointing something out in the forest at the side of our path to some people and were thrilled to find it was a small black bear - and only about 30 meters away. When we reached the waterfall the huge amount of water and the enormous power being generated were breathtaking. A lake had formed in front of the glacier and a couple of icebergs were floating in it. The ranger told us the lake was about 300 feet deep and 90% of the icebergs were below the waterline. Again, there were the most wonderful, blue mountains surrounding the glacier and the effect was glorious. Our guide told us the weather was a day "out of the bag" for Juneau so we felt very blessed all round.

Standing in front of the glacier, waterfall & lake

We then walked to an area to watch sockeye salmon swimming upstream ready to spawn. This breed of salmon is very red in colour so were easy to spot and we saw quite a few of them. There are only a couple of places in Alaska where Sockeye salmon can be seen in the wild. They look magnificent swimming in the clear waters and fighting their way upstream against small rapids and large boulders. Alaska is truly beautiful everywhere you look.

Sockeye Salmon in the wild

We were then bussed back to the downtown area where we browsed through the historic shopping village and stopped for a drink in the famous Red Dog Pub. That was fun - the pub is decorated on every square inch and even has Wyatt Earp's gun on show. A huge stuffed moose head, an otter head, a halibut skeleton, 1940's era advertising posters, US flags, confederate flags, etc. etc. all vie for space on the walls. The floor is covered in sawdust - all in all, a really interesting place.

Inside the Red Dog Pub

Wyatt Earp's Gun

Before dinner, we went to the theatre to listen to Libby Riddell, a world famous dog musher and winner of the tough Iditerod Race across 1100 miles of Alaskan wilderness from Anchorage to Nome. Her talk was fascinating and how she endured temperatures of minus 100 degrees during the race, I will never know. She had one of her 40 Husky dogs with her too.

It was then time for dinner and tonight my oldest (maybe longest known sounds better) girlfriend, Jeanette joined us for dinner. Her husband Brian was exhausted after a huge day so decided not to join us meaning Jen & I could natter away relentlessly - bliss! A lovely end to an amazing day!

Now, we'd love to see the Northern Lights - but tonight looks too cloudy.

Cruising through Snow Pass on the way to Juneau

 

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