After a great morning of whale watching it was time to move on to the rest of our day in Juneau. The whale watching tour included a "brief" stop at the Mendenhall Glacier visitor's center on the way back to downtown Juneau...but we wanted more than a short visit...we wanted to explore!
Kent & Laurel had spent their morning doing a glacier helicopter tour and once finished had rented a car. Our plan was to ditch our tour group and meet up with them at the visitor's center. Before leaving the ship that morning, we had grabbed a couple of sandwiches from the International Cafe and those became our "lunch on the go" that we ate in the van on the way to the glacier.
The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Our tour van pulled into the visitor's center parking lot just as Kent was parking the rental car...a red PT Cruiser! One advantage to traveling in Alaska (as opposed to a foreign country) was that we had cell service...so much easier to stay in touch and coordinate plans!
The visitor's center had various exhibits to explore and had a great view overlooking Mendenhall Glacier.
Compared to Ketchikan, our port time in Juneau was quite long (8 am to 9 pm). Juneau is the capital of Alaska but interestingly enough can only be reached by plane or boat...there are no roads leading into the city. Size-wise, the city is the second largest in the United States with an area close to the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. With a population of a little over 32,000, it just barely beats out Fairbanks for the title of second largest city in Alaska.
Because of the extended port times, we had a busy and quite full day planned. Part I of our day was a whale watching cruise that I had booked online with a highly rated company called Harv and Marv's…Part II took us to Mendenhall Glacier and Part III had us exploring the area around Juneau via rental car.
After the ship docked at 8 am, we had instructions to meet up with the representative from Harv and Marv’s on the dock at 8:20. We found him right away and were told they were looking for the rest of the group so we should wait on a nearby bench. Luckily the bench was under a covered area because it was drizzling rain.
At 8:40 we were still waiting when Kent and Laurel got off the ship to meet their morning tour…a helicopter flight over a glacier. Eventually everyone showed up and we were divided up into vans for the ride to the marina where we would begin our tour.
The ride took about 20 minutes or so and gave us a chance to see a little bit of Juneau. Our driver pointed out some of the sights including an area where eagles congregate, a glimpse of Mendenhall Glacier…and oh yeah…the Walmart.
Once at the marina, Captain Liz quickly found the six who were in our group and we headed to the small boat. Right away, Bob and I pulled on our rain pants as the boat sailed into the rainy and foggy Auke Bay. Having our rain gear and waterproof binoculars was a blessing and allowed us to spend time outside the boat watching for whales.
Thanks to our early tour, there was still plenty of time left to check out Ketchikan. With a population of around 8,000, Ketchikan still ranks as the fifth largest city in the state and claims to be the salmon capital of the world.
We started our walking tour at Creek Street...a historic boardwalk perched along the banks of the Ketchikan Creek. Filled with art and souvenir shops, Creek Street was a former "red light district" where "both men and salmon came upstream to spawn." With four ships in port, the number of passengers easily outnumbered the citizens and it was insanely crowded.
Ketchikan is known as Alaska's "first city" due to its location at the southeastern most tip of Alaska...it is the first city you encounter as you cruise north. It also holds the distinction of having the world's largest collection of standing totem poles.
Ketchikan's average rainfall is 162 inches annually...but has been known to get as much as 200 inches in a single year! The weather WAS a concern since our plan for the day was to take a "flight-seeing" tour over Misty Fjords National Monument. To make the most of our short time in port, I had booked our flight for 7:30 am.
I thought it might be hard to get up for such an early morning tour, but we were up at 5 am without even using the alarm. It helped that we had to set our clocks back an hour the previous night to adjust to the new time zone. According to the Captain’s Log, between 2 am and 3 am we crossed the Canada/USA international border and sailed into Alaskan waters. What a relief when we pulled back the curtains in our cabin and saw beautiful blue skies!
It was interesting to check out the homes along the shore as we sailed into Ketchikan. We were sailing pretty close to the shore and with the binoculars you could get a pretty good view of Alaskan living!
Wouldn't it be fun to spend some time with this woman and hear her stories of Alaska life? She would fit right in on one of the many Alaska reality TV shows.
As the ship approached the city of Ketchikan, Bob and I went to the top deck to get a better view. The sun was just beginning to creep above the mountains as the Coral Princess docked.
Months earlier, I had booked the tour online with Family Air. Although we would be flying in a very small Cessna, I liked the fact that it would just be the four of us and the pilot, Dave. The float plane is in the previous photo so when Dave's niece, Kendra, picked us up at the dock it took all of two minutes to reach their facility. If we had gone out on the bow of the ship we literally could have jumped into the water and landed next to the plane!
Here is a photo of Bob standing in front of Family Air's plane with the Coral in the background.
We were all outfitted with headsets and microphones that allowed us to converse back and forth with each other.
With all five of us in the plane it was tight…but not uncomfortably so.
Going right by the Coral Princess...
...and then we took off! What a great view of the ship!
The low angle of the sun made for some interesting lighting on the mountains.
It was amazing to see the waterfalls spilling out of the lakes and cascading down the mountainside.
Dave landed the plane on a lake near an old cabin and we were able to get out and do some exploring for about a half hour.
A couple of other planes flew by but didn't land.
The abandoned cabin had been owned by the National Forest Service and had a sign on the outside that said “Goat Cabin.” According to Dave it was used…most appropriately…by goat hunters.
There was no wind, and with the sun shining brightly it was nice and warm and so peaceful. It felt like our little group was a million miles away from civilization!
I'm pretty sure that Bob wouldn't have cared if Dave would have taken off and just left him there.
The time went by too quickly. Many of the Misty Fjords tours that I checked into had quick lake landings with only a chance to briefly step out on the floats. I felt lucky to have had as much time as we did to explore. Dave took our picture in front of the plane and then it was time to go.
As the plane taxied across the lake and went into the air, we were able to look back and watch the little cabin fade into the distance.
A few more photos as we flew back through Misty Fjords to Ketchikan...
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Whether from excitement or not being used to the time difference, Bob and I were both up early. By 6 am we were bundled up and sitting on the balcony! This was pretty much our “outpost” throughout the cruise! And as long as we were looking...we were usually able to see some type of wildlife, regardless of where we were.
Luck was with us that first morning and a pod of dall’s porpoises swam alongside our balcony for some time.
