Juneau

Today meant whales, whales and more whales plus a glacier. It was great! This morning I was on a big catamaran out in Auke Bay looking for humpbacks, and we found them. At one point there were 5 around us at the same time. Fascinating and a little awe-inspiring. I kept thinking “the Leviathan, which He made for the sport of it”. There were people in kayaks nearby and I really wondered what would happen if a whale decided to get a little close to one – I’ll bet a couple of the kayakers started thinking the same thing! These enormous creatures obviously were familiar with some of the whale-watching boats and almost played around with us – I’m pretty sure one whet UNDER the boat just because. Although there were maybe 40 people on the boat, whenever we saw “blow” and were hoping to spot a whale, there was silence – sort of waiting for the jagic to begin. The crew was really knowledgable about the wildlife overall and these whales in particular (Mr. Wiggles, Sasha and Slaine in part). Sea lions and a beautiful setting really made this special.

Afterwards we were off the Mendenhall Glacier. Although it was a fairly short visit, I managed a hike to Horsefeather Falls (I think that’s the name) which was spectacular. We could see the glacial ice fairly nearby, which stretches more than 13 miles. Gorgeous.

On to Skagway.