North to Alaska: Day 3

Juneau

Alaska Day 3

Inside Passage to Juneau

August 26 2011

At 6 AM I took my place on the treadmill at the bow of the ship and began my search for whales. The captain had told us yesterday that we would be going through a channel at this hour that was known to have whales. What a sight it was, while running at a meager but safe pace of 10MPH, to see that first whale. It was momentary, but there was no doubt what it was. After a brief bit it blew an upward spray through its spout and disappeared with a splash of its tail. What a fluke it was. This was an incredible sight. I had never seen a whale before and I almost fell off the treadmill at the sight of one. To think that this same whale may have wintered in Hawaii and then traveled thousands of miles to this very channel is astonishing. Over the next hour, I saw about three more of them.

By 9AM we were on the catamaran that would shepherd us deep into the fiord. It pulled up along the Volendam and we were brought on board. It was a cold day with a light rain. We ended up staying indoors for much of this trip. Along the way we saw many waterfalls and it had a look very similar to the fiords we saw in Norway. We passed multiple icebergs along the way, some with a brilliant blue color. The icebergs had come from glaciers deep in the fiord. Eventually we got to the end where we saw the South Glacier. It was beautiful. There were even a few harbor seals awaiting our arrival. On the way back we were treated to the sight of a couple more whales, one which we saw leap out of the water and land on its side with a big splash. This was the highlight of the trip so far. By 2:30 we were back at the ship in the port of Juneau.

Juneau was not what I was expecting. It’s a small town with lots of shops selling cubic zirconium and T-shirts. We purchased a ticket to take us to the Mendhenhall Glacier. This was spectacular. Had we known this in advance we likely would have skipped our fancy add-on trip up the fiord. While there we saw a stream loaded with sockeye salmon ready to spawn. This would be the end of their journey, some having traveled as far as 2000 miles to get back to this point, where they were born 5-8 years ago. This was another incredible sight, although after that, I have lost my taste for salmon.

We soon were back on the boat ready for our evening. We ate at the Italian restaurant, the Cavatelle, on the ship that night, not willing to put up with another night of humiliation at being stood up by Donna and Roscoe. It’s was a lovely meal served by an attentive Southeast Asian staff all ridiculously dressed to look like Venetian gondoliers. Nonetheless, the food was great and we were soon back at our cabin exhausted from our whirlwind day. Tomorrow we would again be leaving the ship, this time for good.