Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Upon awakening this morning I realized the captain was making some very convoluted turns to get us into port at Juneau. Not a lot of space to maneuver, but we did make it! Today we were going on the Whale Tails and Rainforest Trails excursion, so after breakfast we went out into the constant drizzle to wait for our bus. Presently it arrived and then we got on with the ten or so other people on this hike. First up we went to the trail to the Mendenhall Glacier where our guide explained how the glacier had killed everything but when it receded first the moss came and then everything grew on the moss, restoring the forest. Very interesting. We didn’t see any bears although we had been instructed to leave all food in the bus just in case. We got some good views of the lake and the glacier (well, as good as you can get in the fog) and Charlotte got to hold a chunk of 200 year old ice. We stopped by the visitor center and then went to the dock to get on the whale tour boat. First off we saw orcas, a transient pod that had JUST killed a dahl’s porpoise. Thank goodness we didn’t see that!  A little too much “circle of life” for us. Then we went to where the humpbacks were sighted and watched them for a while. It’s so cool how they keep coming up for air and then about the fourth time they go all the way down and youcan see the tail. It was a very good excursion, I highly recommend it! Once back in Juneau we walked to the Hangar on the Warf pub and grill recommended by our guide that is in the original offices of Alaska Air. I had the halibut and fries just as instructed—yummy! We walked around Juneau for a while and bought some souvenirs (very expensive) from a local shop (as opposed to the chain stores operated by the cruise lines). The kids were tired and Mark was done with the touristy nature of the Warf area so we headed back to the ship. Went swimming, met up with everyone for dinner. Another good day.

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