Alaska Trip Day 10 – Juneau, Alaska
July 27, 2023
Juneau is a unique city in Alaska. Not only is it the capital of Alaska, it is only reachable by sea plane, boat, or helicopter. No roads go anywhere but Juneau. It was a much larger city than Skagway. Lots of government buildings, and seemed to be a busy port for lots of boats.
Juneau is also known for its heritage and historical background. Many of the settlers there long ago would carve out trees with symbols and images that were important to them. We known them today and totem poles. The city was littered with them all around.
While in Juneau, we had one of our Holland America excursions… Mendenhall Glacier/Whale Watching. It was lots of fun and the experience was worth the money spent.. The glacier was so large and gorgeous. Pictures really don’t do it any service.
As we were at the site, Doug and Mike hiked about a mile into the woods to see a very large waterfall. The hike was a little strenuous for Doug, but Mike seemed to take it in stride. The waterfall was amazing and awesome.
One of Mendenhall’s icebergs broke away from the glacier and was floating down the river. It is hard to tell from the picture, but it was very, very large iceberg.
Next we loaded onto a boat to head out to where the whales live. We were so fortunate to have a beautiful day to explore these huge creatures. We were told there were two types of whales that lived in this area… the Orca and the Humpback whales. There were lots of Humpbacks, but very seldom see an Orca whale.
The sure sign of a Humpback whale was to see the large water spout coming out of the water. You may catch a glimpse of the backs of the whales, but usually you see the spout then the black tail of the whale.
After traveling about 30 minutes, we came upon a school of whales. They counted 8 whales in the same location. Not that common to see so many in one place. We followed them for about an hour. They would surface for less than a minute, then would go down for about 5 minutes before you would see them surface again. Our guide was very experienced and knowledgeable. It was amazing.
That was an amazing excursion. On the way back to the dock, the crew did spot a single, young Orca whale. We didn’t get a shot on the camera, but was obviously an Orca. We saw its dorsal fin and the white markings on its tail. Just amazing.
The crew on the boat said we were very fortunate to see so many whales in one trip. We returned to Juneau just in time for the ship to leave the dock and head to Ketchikan, Alaska.
As we left Juneau, we scheduled our formal dinner for this evening at the Pinnacle Grill on board the ship. We got all dressed up, and had a wonderful dinner.
After dinner, we all turned in for the night. It was a long day and we were pretty tired. Tomorrow, we arrive in Ketchikan, Alaska around 7am.
