Juneau, Alaska: Mendenhall Glacier & Tracy Arm Fjord Are A Capital Idea

Wow! Juneau is the capital of Alaska. You can only get here by boat or by plane. We came in by boat; the M/V Columbia of the Alaska Maritime Ferry System to be exact. What a nice ship. Huge compared to our first ferry, the M/V Taku.

Our ferry ride from Petersburg to Juneau lasted just under 8 hours. We left Petersburg at 6 pm and arrived at Juneau just before 2 am Monday morning. The weather was typical for Southeast Alaska, kind of gray, not too cold and just an occasional rain shower. The inside passage is normally pretty calm and last night was no exception; nice and smooth with great visibility.

There was a period of about an hour while we were in the Frederick Sound where we saw almost two dozen humpback whales. Most were travelling/feeding alone although occasionally you would see two humpbacks together. Most likely a mother and her calf.

All were fairly distant from the ship so my pictures are just OK. Still it was incredibly exciting to spot the spray from the whales blow hole in the distance and then see the 'hump' of the whale as they cruised along. After four or five spouts the whale would dive deep for a little feeding session, usually giving us a pretty good view of its tail.

One whale repeatedly slapped the water with it's tail seven or eight times before diving. Not sure what that means however it was exciting to see such behavior. 

Just as it was getting too dark to see anything in the distance a pod of what I think were Dall porpoise began playing in the bow wave of the ferry. They moved so quick it was hard to follow them. They look like miniature Killer Whales with the same black and white coloration although the porpoise and much smaller than a Killer Whale and lack the large dorsal fin. 

We slept at the ferry terminal for a couple of hours and then we went to the Spruce Meadows campground where we will be staying until Friday afternoon, at which time will take our last ferry ride to Haines, Alaska.

After getting camp set up we went to breakfast and then went to see the Mendenhall Glacier. This glacier is only three miles from our campground and only 15 minutes from downtown Juneau. It's is an incredible site. There was some recent calving so the left side of the glacier is especially 'blue' in color. Actually the ice is incredibly clear.

After a little power napping this afternoon Mary Lynn and I did a little shopping. despite all you hear about the high price of food in Alaska (and the restaurants in particular are expensive) the Safeway we went to was only sightly more expensive then Safeways we frequent in the 'Lower 48'.

Tonight we went in search of whales along the coast however all we saw were harbor seals.

Tomorrow we are taking the the 56 foot Adventure Bound to the Tracy Arm Fjord, an all day cruise through some of the most spectacular scenery in Southeast Alaska, all just a couple of hours from the Alaska's State Capital. Who knows what wildlife we will see and photograph?

See Ya!