Juneau, AK - Day 6
After sailing for a full day from Elliott Bay through the Puget Sound and out to the Pacific ocean by way of the Strait of Juan de Fuca we passed by the western coast of Canada and made our way into Juneau the capital city of Alaska. Upon arriving in the port the sights were absolutely gorgeous with snowcapped mountains all around us. We knew we had an action packed day so we got up early, got ready, grabbed some breakfast and disembarked to meet our small tour group we were going to be with for the duration of the day.
The first part of the day was heading North out of the city to Auke Bay to spend the morning whale watching. On our way our tour guide guaranteed that we would see a whale which had everyone pretty excited. During our hour long ride he presented some information on how best to capture a whale from a photography perspective and ensured that everyone’s camera was setup and configured correctly. When we got to the bay we boarded a small boat with our group and set out on the search for whales with our captain. We cruised out into the bay for about 20 minutes in search for spouts.
It didn’t take long until we came across our first whale in the distance. We stopped and snapped several photos while learning about humpback whales. What we didn’t know was when you see a humpback on the surface raise their tail they are preparing to dive for anywhere from eight to nine minutes before they come back to the surface. This obviously took patience trying to snap some photos of them when you see them from several hundred feet away.
Throughout the morning we ended up seeing seven different whales and two of them were mothers with their calves. One of them is fairly well known in the area and her name is Flame because her fluke looks like fire and her calf was named Flicker. This was one of the most incredible experiences to be out on the bay observing these whales in nature. For something so large to move with such grace it is truly astonishing. From what I understand the later Summer months the whales tend to come up out of the water more and the orcas are also in the area so keep that in mind if you want to book your trip or do any kind of whale watching.
Something else that was really quite cool while we were out on the bay was that we came across a buoy that had a bunch of seals laying about and a bald eagle perched on top. While we circled the buoy to get some great shots some of the seals were showing their dominance and fighting a bit.
After spending the morning at Auke Bay we made our way to Mendenhall Glacier for a photography focused nature walk and to see just how much the ice has receded over the years. Once we got there way made our way for about a mile and half on a gorgeous hike right at the golden hour. Luckily for us it had warmed up a bit a couple of weeks before visiting so there wasn’t any snow or ice and the temperature was just perfect.
Along the trail there are these indicators to let you know where the ice use to start which is surreal to wrap your head around just how fast these glaciers are disappearing.
At the end of our hike we were treated to a gorgeous view of the Mendenhall Glacier on a perfectly lit day. It was the first time either of us had ever witnessed an actual iceberg which had calved off the glacier and was floating near the shoreline. This experience was an absolutely perfect ending to the day right in this spot taking it all in together. Also, as an aspiring landscape photographer being able to shoot something like this has always been a dream.
While we were on our way back to the ship we passed by a little cove where it had been low tide and standing out there was about 50-75 bald eagles all in one spot. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a decent picture, but is was really something to see.
As we were coming back through the city or guide called out to look to the right where we would see Taco the whale (remember I said he guaranteed to see at least one whale) and sure enough there was Taco breaching.
We made it back to the ship around 8PM and embarked ready to get cleaned up and get something to eat. This was the first time being four hours ahead of Charlotte time that the timezones really started to affect us. Not to mention the sunset occurred at around 11PM that evening which was definitely something super interesting to experience. I did however get some great shots of the sun going down over the mountain.
We headed to bed so we can be refreshed and ready to go once we ported in Skagway the next day…
