Juneau June 30th

June 30th Juneau


Another cold rainy day for our boat ride to Juneau. Temps were in high 40s and low 50s all day with light rain and mist almost all day.

We left Skagway about 8am.

The ferry to Juneau takes about 2.5 hrs each way. We stopped in Haines to pick up a couple of people but our group comprised most of the passengers.

The boat captain stopped whenever he saw wildlife such as seals, sea lions, eagles or whales so that we could take pictures.

The scenery was great but unfortunately clouds obscured the snow capped mountains which line both sides of the fjord.

Our group leader had assured us that this would be a smooth boat ride but it wasn't. The tide rises and falls about 20 feet here and we just happened to be traveling on a day when the ebbing tide flowing out of the fjord was met by a strong wind coming into the fjord creating pretty rough water. Some of the waves were breaking over the top of the boat. I was glad to get off the boat.

We docked about 20 miles from Juneau because the captain said it was too expensive to dock in Juneau itself. So we had an hour bus ride to town. We only had about 3 hours in Juneau so Nancy and I and another couple walked up to the old part of town to see the Russian Orthodox Church, then went to lunch.

There was a large cruise ship in town so most of the restaurants were packed ,so by the time we finished lunch it was time to get back on the bus for our trip to the Mendenhall glacier.We really enjoyed the glacier visit despite the steady rain and the short time schedule we were on. This picture shows where the edge of the glacier was in the 1960s (Where the people are).

This picture was taken from where the edge of the glacier was in the 1930s.

Here are some of the blue icebergs from the glacier.

The ice is blue because it is so compressed no air bubbles are in it.

After about 45 minutes we were back on the bus and headed to the boat.

Although the waves were not as bad as the first trip it was still pretty rough. I got seasick about halfway back to Juneau, the only passenger to do so. I think it was the spicy Jambalaya I had for lunch plus the fact that it was very warm inside the boat.

Yoda had to show off for everyone by riding a whale on the way back.

We returned to Skagway about 8:30pm and it sure felt good to be back on solid ground.