On Monday morning, we arrived in beautiful Juneau. This is the view as we walked off of the ship and headed into town. It is hard to believe this small, quaint town is Alaska's state capitol! The Mount Roberts tramway treks up the mountainside every 5 minutes, but it was too foggy to see much of anything from the top.
Gorgeous view of downtown. We had a little time for shopping before meeting our bus for our day's excursion.
Posing with the Silver Star in front of a crab pot.
The Red Dog Saloon's floor is covered in sawdust and the walls are covered with pictures, money and animal heads.
Chocolate and caramel dipped marshmallows on a stick from the Alaskan Fudge Co.!
We couldn't pass up a photo opportunity with Alaska's most well-known resident, Sarah Palin!
After a short bus ride to the pier, we boarded the Saint Marie for a 2 1/2 hour amazing Whale Watch tour.
Before spotting any whales, we found lots of Harbor Seals relaxing on the rocks!
Aaron Island
Point Retreat lighthouse on land with Sea Lions hanging out on the bouy.
It wasn't long before we spotted the stars of the afternoon.
Our Captain heard about a group of Humpbacks who were Bubble Net Feeding so we passed up several solo whales to watch this amazing scene.Our guide said they only see this once or twice a season, if lucky, and we were lucky!
We witnessed 15 Humpbacks dive down deep into the water, come back up together blowing bubbles, trapping herring in the bubbles and once at the surface, opening their mouths wide to feed on all of the trapped herring. The pictures don't begin to do the experience justice. The first sign would be the seagulls crashing down to the water in a circle, then we would hear a huge rush of water and then flukes, fins and heads of whales reaching the surface with amazing force. It was spectacular!! We were able to watch for 30 minutes before having to move on to follow enviromental protection policies.
It is certainly something we will never forget or probably see again!
Then it was on to Orca Point Lodge for our Salmon Bake late lunch. The lodge sits on a small island and I believe it only has 1 resident, the caretaker of the lodge. All employees travle by boat each day to go to work.
The Saint Marie
We were greeted by our wonderful chef and the amazing smell of salmon on the grill.
Our lunch...fresh-grilled King Salmon, rice pilaf, corn, rolls and brownies for dessert.
We had about 45 minutes to collect shells and play in the tidepools before getting back on the boat.
Our last stop on this amazing tour was Mendenhall Glacier. We were blown away by the sky blue icebergs floating in the water.
The Mendenhall Glacier, a hanging glacier with more shades of blue than this picture can show.
We were disappointed to only have 45 minutes to spend here, but we made good use of our time taking photos and visiting the Visitor Center. We got to touch a piece of the glacier's ice, but wished we had more time to walk the path that takes visitors closer to the base.
A very busy day, but an experience of a lifetime!
We witnessed 15 Humpbacks dive down deep into the water, come back up together blowing bubbles, trapping herring in the bubbles and once at the surface, opening their mouths wide to feed on all of the trapped herring. The pictures don't begin to do the experience justice. The first sign would be the seagulls crashing down to the water in a circle, then we would hear a huge rush of water and then flukes, fins and heads of whales reaching the surface with amazing force. It was spectacular!! We were able to watch for 30 minutes before having to move on to follow enviromental protection policies.It is certainly something we will never forget or probably see again!
Then it was on to Orca Point Lodge for our Salmon Bake late lunch. The lodge sits on a small island and I believe it only has 1 resident, the caretaker of the lodge. All employees travle by boat each day to go to work.
The Saint Marie
We were greeted by our wonderful chef and the amazing smell of salmon on the grill.
Our lunch...fresh-grilled King Salmon, rice pilaf, corn, rolls and brownies for dessert.
We had about 45 minutes to collect shells and play in the tidepools before getting back on the boat.
Our last stop on this amazing tour was Mendenhall Glacier. We were blown away by the sky blue icebergs floating in the water.
The Mendenhall Glacier, a hanging glacier with more shades of blue than this picture can show.
We were disappointed to only have 45 minutes to spend here, but we made good use of our time taking photos and visiting the Visitor Center. We got to touch a piece of the glacier's ice, but wished we had more time to walk the path that takes visitors closer to the base.
A very busy day, but an experience of a lifetime!
