While we were in Juneau – we were lucky enough to find that XP #9 owners(Sissi and Günter) were in town. They had just gotten back from a four year adventure to South America. They are actually commercial fishermen and were living on their boat, the Keta, in the harbor. They invited us over and fed us a wonderful, freshly caught King Salmon dinner. It was very interesting to learn about all the intricacies of commercial fishing here in Juneau, and all the things that this community does to ensure the longevity of the salmon and their environment.
Karen eating freshly caught Salmon caviar. Delicious! (guess who wouldn’t try it)Sissi and Günter’s boat, Keta. The boats were really packed in at the dock, many were “double parked”Chuck and Günter discussing how salmon are fishedSissi relaxing on deckPart of our wonderful dinner – Yum!We saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex running around on the dock
We booked an excursion on the Captain Cook boat to see the Tracy Arm Fjord. This was an all day excursion, so there weren’t any cruise ship people on it (cruise ship people aren’t in Juneau for long enough to enjoy this tour). But every seat was still full. This was a great experience, traveling south out of Juneau to the Fjord, seeing icebergs, wildlife, and the southern Sawyer Glacier.
We sailed on the Captain Cook on our excursion to Tracy Arm FjordView of the Captain Cook underwayChuck spent some time sitting up with Captain Alyssa on the Captain Cook
On the way down we saw a whale who wouldn’t pose for the camera, several eagle sitting on icebergs, and a seal or two.
Eagle perched on an iceberg (doesn’t this picture look so good that it looks fake?!)Pair of eagles perched on a different iceberg
We continued into the Tracy Arm Fjord and witnessed many more icebergs. Several of these had interesting shapes, our captain drove circles around the icebergs to give us a view of all sides.
Iceberg at Tracy Arm Fjord
Iceberg at Tracy Arm Fjord
Iceberg at Tracy Arm Fjord
The Fjord itself was beautiful. Mountains shot up about a mile. Waterfalls were abundant!
View entering Tracy Arm Fjord
Dome Mountain in Tracy Arm Fjord
Tracy Arm Fjord
Waterfall in Tracy Arm Fjord
Tracy Arm Fjord
Tracy Arm Fjord
Then we reached the Sawyer Glacier itself. It was about 1/2 mile wide and we were able to get pretty close. It was very active, we witnessed many calving events (ice chunks falling off the glacier into the sea).
Sawyer Glacier
Southern Sawyer Glacier
Southern Sawyer Glacier
Eagles on Sawyer Glacier
On the south side of the glacier, seals and their pups were laying on the ice flows. Apparently, Orcas (who eat seals) don’t like going into the Fjord, so the seals were pretty safe there. There were hundreds of seals on the ice.
Harbor seals and pups on ice flowsHarbor seal on Ice flowHarbor Seal
On the way back home, we sailed by some sea lions. Quite the day for wildlife viewing!
We were able to find a nice campsite, with only a few hundred mosquitos, at the Medenhall Glacier Campground near Juneau. There weren’t many campers in the park at all, so we found a spot on the water at Mendenhall Lake. Perfect for Kayaking to the Glacier later this week.
Campsite at Mendenhall Lake.Mendenhall Glacier, with Mendenhall lake in foreground. Juneau Alaska
We decided to check out the town a bit, there were way too many cruise ship people in town. But we did stop and take a picture of the infamous Red Dog Saloon for Bob and Cathy:
Red Dog Saloon – famous for the sawdust on the floor…
And, because cruise ship people don’t need parking spaces, we were able to find one and pick up a few doodads
Our camper is easy to park on the street in Juneau Alaska
Took a drive up the coast and stopped at the Shrine of St Therese. Beautiful gardens there, very peaceful.
Statue of St Therese at the Shrine of St Therese
Labyrinth Garden at Shrine of St Therese
On the way back to the campground we saw our first Alaskan bear. A black bear, just wandering down the highway.
Black bear wandering down the highway near Juneau AKClose up of the same bear as we drove past.
Today we headed out on another Ferry, this time the MV Kennicott. It will take us from Ketchikan to Juneau. This leg is 20 hours long (did I tell you ferries go at about 16-18 knots – that’s close to 20 mph?). Some other people on board pitched tents on deck, I guess this is very common. We did not bring a tent. They don’t don’t let you sleep in your cars. (They do let you visit your cars every so often to walk your dogs). So, we booked a room. Nice and quiet. And small.
Here is our room on board the MV Kennicott. Not quite a deluxe cruise room, heh? But way more comfortable than sleeping on the deck.This is the Ferry MV Pennicott, while we were waiting to board at KetchikanNot quite as many cars on this ferry, the workers didn’t have to do any jigsaw puzzling of the vehicles.
The Ferry ride was mostly along the Inside Passage, and we were alerted to several whale sightings. Here are some pictures I took of one of the whales:
Whale spouting
Fin on the whale
Back of the whale
You can tell that whales don’t like to pose for pictures! So here is a magnificent statue of a whale at Juneau so you can see what whales are supposed to look like:
