Wednesday July 23, 2014 Haines, Alaska

Standing at the dock of the sea

We were up with the alarm.  I made the coffee and we drank it while getting ready to go to Juneau.  As usual we caught up on our computer activities, such as e-mail, Facebook and keeping track of our spending.

The boat goes to Juneau at 8:30 so we allowed plenty of time to get ready and get to the dock. We rode the short distance to the dock with the Johnsons and Christian.  The day was overcast but occasionally the sun peeked through the clouds.  The back drop of mountains around the town and bay were spectacular.

Mountains to the east of Haines

We saw numerous Bald Eagles while waiting for the boat.  We saw both mature and juvenile eagles.  The feathers on the head of a Bald Eagle don't turn white until they are about five years old. Both male and female adults have white heads. The female is larger than the male. They can live to be 50 and mate for life..

A Steller Sea Lion rookery

I thought we were taking a short boat ride from Haines to Juneau.  I must not have listened at a briefing and I never checked the distance.  It was 92 miles.  The boat took us to Yankee Cove and a bus took us the last 20 miles into Juneau.

A Bald Eagle in flight

The boat Captain took a route that took us by a sea lion rookery.  He said that the sea lions we saw were the pups that hadn't left the rookery yet.    If you look closely you will see an eagle on the rock just above the sea lions.  We also saw more eagles in flight.  Along this shore the nests average one per mile.  The deckhand, Anna, served drinks and blueberry muffins on the trip to Juneau and a corn and clam chowder on the return trip.  Check out the Web Site and Facebook page.  On the Facebook page our captain is on the left and third from left is our deckhand, Anna. http://alaskafjordlines.com/  https://www.facebook.com/alaskafjordlines?ref=br_tf

One of many glaciers that we saw on the trip to and from Juneau

We also saw many glaciers along the way.  These were alpine glaciers that originated from the Juneau Ice Field.  They don't reach the sea. Occasionally we could see the blue tint to the ice when the sun was just right.

An alpine glacier

Juneau Capitol building (presently being remodeled) 

The bus driver also narrated the drive into town.  Once downtown we were dropped off to be on our own for a couple of hours.  The drop off point and later pick up point was at the cruise ship dock. Four ships were in port and another was approaching.

Stairs to a cache

We walked to the Alaska Capitol Building with Bob and Rebecca.  It was about 4 blocks uphill.   We went into the lobby area and listened to some of the facts from the tour guide. Bob and Rebecca continued on the tour and we went back to the shopping area.  We found a few things of interest.  Most of the streets in this area were narrow and alternate one way.  With all the cruise ships in port it was very busy.  There were steep stairways up the hill to another street.  We took one of the staircases up and found two caches.  The picture only shows about half the steps.  Down was a little easier. The stairs have street names.  I suppose because there are homes off them and they have to have an address.

Lunch at Tracy's King Crab Shack

We had lunch at one of the restaurants the bus driver recommended.  We choose Tracy's King Crab Shack because the main thing we wanted was included in the name.  We split a combo plate and an order of fried shrimp.  The food including the crab cakes was excellent.

Mendenhall Glacier

Back on the bus at 3 PM, it was off to Mendenhall Glacier.  This glacier and the surrounding area is a National park  We were here 12 years ago on a tour from the cruise ship.  The area is quite different.  The glacier has retreated a couple of miles.  All the glaciers in Alaska are retreating, part of a cycle that began in the 1700's.

The Evvida in dock

We were picked up by the boat at Auke Bay Harbour.  There was a motor yacht, the Evviva, at a dock.  This yacht is 162' loog and over 30' wide. According to Google it is one of two this size built by the same company.  The other doesn't feature a heliport.  This is the 78th largest yacht in America and is registered in the Cayman Islands.

Humpback Whales bubble net feeding

The captain assured us of whale sightings on the return trip.  Boy, did we see whales.  We saw them engage in a feeding behavior called bubble netting.  We had seen this on another whale watching trip, but not so many times.

Whale tail and water spouts

Bubble netting is a cooperative action, in this case involving 12 humpback whales.  The dive and swim in an ever decreasing circle while blowing bubbles.  This herds schools of herring to the surface.  At a signal from the leader all the whales surface at the same time with their mouths open, catching their meal.  We saw them do this several times at a distance and as we drifted they did it one time about 20 yards from our boat.  When the whales prepared for their next dive some were within 10' of our boat.  There were dozens of other boats also watching the whales.  Gerri got some good whale tail shots.

Eldred Rock Lighthouse

We passed two lighthouses on the return trip.  One the Eldred Rock Lighthouse, although unmanned is maintained by the Coast Guard.  It is reportedly for sale. and has a mystery story attached to it.  http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=828

We got back to Haines at nearly 8 PM.  Dave stopped by a cache on the way back to the RV Park.  They directed me to the cache and I signed the log.

This was a very good day.  Lots of spectacular scenery, whales, eagles, great food, caches and good company.

Bed time was soon on us and I noticed that at 11 PM it was actually dark.  It may have been partly because of the clouds but we are losing about 7 minutes of daylight per day.  That will increase as we go south.