Cruise — Day 03 — Juneau 



Ship's Time 21:14 (Sunday, June 12, 2006).
Ship's Position 58° 17.90' N, 134° 24.33' W. (Preparing to leave dock in Juneau, Alaska)

Pictures for this blog can be found here.

Well, before 9:30 in the morning we had had breakfast, and spotted the first whale of the cruise. We were sitting in the Rotterdam Dining Room by the port-side windows and Lynda was looking out forward when she spotted a Humpback whale blow about a quarter mile ahead. Within seconds, most of the dining room had shifted port and were pointing at the whale; we passed within 200 feet of it.

We disembarked for our shore excusion at 12:25. Note here: after three unsuccessful attempts over the last 32 years, on my fourth try, I set foot on Alaska at the aforementioned 12:25. It has been worth the effort. The weather was SPECTACULAR. Our tour bus driver informed us, that Juneau gets 44 days of sunshine a year, and we got the best one of the year so far. The downside is that we packed for the usual weather up here, and were not expecting it to be Chamber of Commerce sunny with a high of 84! Yes, I said 84!!

We got on our whale watching boat and spent three hours looking at Humpback Whales, Stellar Sea Lions and Bald Eagles. Not counting the morning whale, we saw five whales on the excursion, two eagles and couple of dozen sea lions in beautiful waters surrounded in every direction with high snow-covered peaks. We got back to the pier and caught the bus again and went to Mendenhall Glacier, a river of ice coming down the mountain from the Juneau Ice Field and a mile and a half wide at the bottom end.

We're pulling out and I will be losing the signal in a few minutes, so more on Tuesday from Sitka. 

Posted: Mon - June 12, 2006 at 01:37 AM          

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