It still seems so strange to be on a cruise ship wearing jeans, long sleeves, and sometimes coats. Saturday, Day 2, was mostly a cruising day. We spent the morning finding things to do on the ship like playing a game of Scrabble and attending a lecture on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The highlight of the day was sailing into Disenchantment Bay to view the largest tide water glacier in North America, Hubbard Glacier. We didn’t splurge on a balcony cabin, so we needed to don our coats and move up to the pool deck to see the glacier. To be honest, I was a little disappointed at the distance from the glacier that the ship stopped and began to rotate. Pictures always depict the ship practically within throwing distance of the wall of ice, but today we were at least two to three miles away. Thank goodness we brought our binoculars and that the camera had a zoom lens. I suppose we could have gotten closer had we paid for the excursion, but $500 didn’t seem quite worth it. Still the experience was amazing and we really enjoyed being there.

Sunday, Day 3, we woke to a rainy day as we docked in Juneau. We’d been warned that Alaska is quite rainy so we came prepared with rain gear including water proof shoes, jackets, and even umbrellas. After breakfast, we exited the ship and boarded a bus to the marina for a whale watching tour. About 5 years ago, we went whale watching out of Boston. It was a truly spiritual experience so we were really excited to repeat the adventure. We came upon our first whale after about 45 minutes into the Favorite Channel. Our guide, a marine biologist, enthusiastically described her feeding patterns and encouraged us to look all around as her dives would make her emerge on either side of the boat. Our skipper, an old sea salt of a captain, wasn’t overly impressed. Noticing her pretty flaccid fluke as she dived, he called her a lazy whale, and told us we were going to find some more energetic whales.

We rounded Lincoln Island and were pleasantly rewarded by spotting at least a half dozen whales. Other boats had spotted the marine mammals and eagerly surrounded the feeding creatures. One young calf caught the attention of the skipper and he graciously made his way back to this youngster so we could watch him practice his breaching and diving techniques. One astute whale watcher was able to capture Cinder has he launched into the air, and shared his shot with others of us on the tour. We followed Cinder for a good twenty minutes as he played and gave us a good show. We learned all about his mother, Flame, who was the first known whale to bring calves back to the area four consecutive years. Most whales wait a year before birthing new offspring. She’s not the most consistent maternal figure, and our marine biologist could not discern whether the nearby adult was actually Flame or another whale. We certainly got our money’s worth as both our guide and the skipper mentioned that this many whales in one trip is certainly a rare site. On the way back to the marina, we stopped to see a group of sea lions lazing on the buoy. A truly great day for wildlife.

The second part of our excursion included an outdoor restaurant featuring an all you can eat grilled salmon buffet. Though still raining, these folks were prepared with covered tables and space heaters. The food was really good, and probably the best salmon I’ve eaten. The waterfall behind the restaurant previously powered a mill on the location, but served now only to provide beautiful photographs.

All too soon, it was time to get back on the ship. Our shuttle driver got so caught up in telling us his life story, he forgot to drop us off in town and took us all the way back to the ship. We didn’t mind, though. I knew there would be more shopping experiences later in the week. Our first port of call was certainly a day to remember.