Juneau, Friday, July 10, 2009

This particular day of our seventeen day trip was one of great expectation for me personally. I had been looking on a website that described the Tracy Arm Fjord excursion out of Juneau. After several conversations with the owners of this excursion, I was convinced Tom, Joan, Dianne and I should think seriously about booking this one.

I talked to Joan about it thru emails and conversations and she noted that she had seen this excursion advertised on local tv and it looked like a trip-in-a-lifetime experience. That's all I needed to hear! The famous words from the tv series Hawaii Five-O--"Book It Denno!"

This excursion is impossible to take during the actual cruise since you leave at 7:45am and don't get back to Juneau until 6:30pm. The cruise ships just aren't in port long enough to include this excursion. So, since we had the time on Friday, off we went!

Here's a list of the animals we saw during the eleven hours--humpback whales, orcas, birds, eagles, seals, otters, black bear, sea lions and mountain goat. I've included with this blog an image of several of these animals.

There are two waterfalls that the ship's captain maneuvers, in a safe manner, next to the falls. The first falls is really a rapids that splits into three parts over a large bolder. Let's talk about this "I'll get you as close as I can safely" statement. As you would expect, I was at the front of the forty something passenger boat. Dianne, Tom and Joan were next to me.

As we moved in closer to the falls, I had my camera up and composing images. As the mist began to hit my face, I looked up and we were within a couple of feet of the falls! Looking to my left for my wife and two dear friends, they had moved further away from me to avoid the water. Tom and I both turned our backs on the falls and one pants leg got wet up to the knee. Now that's what I call close.

We progressed to Sawyer Glacier. Smaller than the Glacier Bay and College Fjord areas, but just as spectacular and awesome. With a smaller boat than a cruise ship, we were able to move in much closer to the glacier. Cutting the engines, we were pulled in the water by the current from the glacier. Not any closer, but still movement.







It's difficult to describe, but the quietness was almost deafening! During the time there, we began to see sea lions popping out of the water onto the icebergs! Probably over forty before we left.




As we left this glacier area, we were greeted by a small vessel whose purpose was to deploy two or three Kodiak boats of scientist to capture, tag and release sea lions. With small monitors attached to these creatures, other scientists could monitor their migrating patterns.


Now we come to the second waterfall experience. This particular waterfall is the traditional starting at the top of the mountain and falling to the fjord below. The boat's captain once again maneuvered us to where we were sideways to the waterfall, approximately one foot away! This time I had my fish eye lens attached and began shooting images of the waterfall--from top to bottom. Dianne made the comment later that she wished she could have taken a picture of me taking the images of the waterfall. I was twelve inches or less from the water. Why didn't I lean over the railing and get a drink of cold water? The image on the right is that waterfall. Dianne's right, seeing this image doesn't give you the real story of how close I was to this waterfall.

Lumping all three previous excursions on Alaskan cruises doesn't equal the scope and shear beauty of Tracy Arm Fjord. It's worth an entire day and cost to experience.


Dinner for the four of us was back in downtown Juneau at Tarantino's. Tom and Joan's suggestion of the Chef's Special Pizza was incredible. It included salmon and other wonderful ingredients.

Now was the time to relax at Tom and Joan's home and prepare ourselves for Saturday's newest and unexpected experience!

Juneau, Thursday, July 9, 2009

Joan still had work duties, but that didn't stop Dianne, Tom and me from taking in more of Juneau than what is possible during our limited port time during the actual cruise.


This day we began mid-morning exploring Sandy Beach which is across the harbour from downtown Juneau. As the tides move from high tide to low tide and back, interesting artifacts are left on the beach. This was a mining area until its collapse, so you'll see pieces of equipment that had been used in the mining process. Parts of dishes also washed on shore, but finding a complete dish is extremely unusual.




After a leisure walk in the area forest, we stopped and looked across the harbour at downtown Juneau and cruise ships that were docked. Peaceful and beautiful are just two words to describe the scene.





Another trip to Mendenhall Glacier to actual capture closer images of the glacier and the waterfall. The cool temperatures balanced out the walking to and from the glacier/waterfall area.










We met Joan for her lunch break at The Hanger. This eating establishment is appropriately named since the pontoon planes begin and end their day's journey just below the resturant.


Mt. Roberts which is on the eastern side of Juneau has a tramway to the halfway point of the mountain. At that point there is a female bald eagle in a protected exhibit, but can be photographed. You guessed it, you're looking at one of those images!




Following dinner a The Twisted Fish, located near the cruise ship docks, we traveled to both end of the main road. Total of forty-five miles to the dead ends. Tom and Joan had us at the northern dead end at sunset. Incredible site to behold. I've included an image of that scene.

Our day was now completed and an evening's rest before our day long excursion on Friday to Tracy Arm Fjord.

Alaska Trip - July 8, 2009

Our Alaskan experience, our fourth trip to the great state in seventeen years, began early this morning with a 5:20am flight out of Jackson, MS, connecting thru Atlanta and Seattle to arrive in Juneau, Alaska at 2:10pm local time. Our friends who moved to Juneau following our summer of 2006 trip to Alaska was the reason to plan an additional five days in Juneau. Tom, Dianne and I made the typical first stop in Juneau--shopping for t-shirts from the local Harley-Davidson store! Once that task was completed, next priority--vanilla ice cream cone at McDonalds.

We then travel a few miles north of downtown Juneau and walked from the Visitor's Center to the waterfall at Mendenhall Glacier. The final leg of the hike was to walk on small rocks to the waterfall area. Dianne decided it was too dangerous for her, but I, instead, walked in the just-over-the-ankle water instead of the rock steps.

While I took digital images of the waterfall and Mendenhall Glacier from the sandbar area, I ventured into the cold water with tripod and camera equipment to get a closer more direct images of the waterfall. Mission accomplished.

Dianne and I both observed the receding of the glacier since our first trip to the area in 1993. (Oh, no, I can hear Al Gore in the background talking about Global Warming again.)

After taking images of the colorful variety of flowers, we called it a day, after almost twenty-three hours straight of travel and photographic opportunities.

Return From Alaska Cruise

After seventeen days of traveling Victoria and Sooke Island, B.C. plus the ports of Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan and visiting dear friends in Juneau for five days, Dianne and I left the cool temperatures to return to Mississippi. Fully expecting to return to heat and humidity, we were pleasantly surprised with lower than normal temperatures and chances of rain every day this week! Wonderful news indeed.

I'll add digital images from our Alaskian trip as days go by for you to enjoy.