Monday, June 5, 2006 - We departed Taku Harbor at 10:00am and headed north to Juneau. During our voyage up we were treated to more whales again surfacing close to the boat. I think that they were as surprised to see us as we were them. We also had cruise ships bearing down on us on their way to deposit thousands of tourists to downtown Juneau. We are actually staying at Auke Bay, 12 miles north of Juneau and it is a beautiful setting with jagged snow covered peaks. We arrived in the rain, docking at 1:45pm. We had become some what jaded by the number of eagles that we encounter daily, but the one here in Auke bay is huge. He has chosen to rest atop one of the arms of the fishing vessel moored in front of us.
Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - We decided to take public transportation into Juneau and play tourist for the day. We had been to Juneau via a Holland America cruise ship about 15 years ago with a group of our friends and they only point of interest we could remember was the Red Dog Saloon. There were at least 5 large cruise ships and at least 3 or more smaller and mid size one in the harbor and you could barely get through the downtown streets. It also was a repeat of what we found in Ketchikan with all of the jewelry stores and tee shirt shops. We opted to visit the Juneau-Douglas City museum and the state capital - that end of town was less populated. It was still raining though the sun was peeking out occasionally.
Wednesday, June 7, - Thursday, June 8, 2006 - As we were sitting in the pilot house enjoying our morning coffee, we were some what surprised to see a whale surface in front of marina breakwater. It was somewhat ironic to watch all the cruise ship passengers load up into the whale watching boats and take off when we had the best sighting without having to leave the dock. We decided to rent a car for a few days and undertake some shopping (Juneau has a Costco) and other necessities such as haircuts as well as some additional site seeing. There were some awesome views of the Mendenhall Glacier from the loop road. We settled for those views as there was a traffic jam trying to get close to the Glacier visitors center with all the cruise ship tour busses.
Friday, June 9, 2006 - It was a beautiful morning with the sun brightly shining. It is 7:00 am and I had let the cats out to our fully enclosed stern to bask in the sunlight. I was in the galley fixing my morning coffee when I heard a splashing sound. Thinking it to be an sea lion, I went to look only to find the splashing sounds to be our cat Heidi swimming frantically in the water. She had managed to squeeze herself through one of the portholes attempting to jump to the dock and had slid into the water. I yelled to Bob and we both jumped onto the dock and we able to grab her as she swam by. She was one wet and cold cat.
Saturday, June 10 - Sunday, June 11, 2006 - We were able to secure a permit to enter Glacier Bay and will be leaving Monday . The weather has been fantastic with temperatures in the mid to high 70's. We have been relaxing and enjoying the weather. We are not sure when we will have internet available again. It may be 10 -12 days.