SATURDAY, JULY 13

SATURDAY, JULY 13:     

     A nice day for our whale watching tour this morning – not as brightly sunny as it was for our glacier cruise, but nice enough.  There were only about a dozen of us going on this tour.  Tod, the captain & owner of the boat, explained before we even left that most of the whales weren’t where they normally congregate and where he’s taken countless tours over the past 7 years; this year, for some reason, they were mostly up in the Bay itself, inside the Nat’l Park boundaries.  And he doesn’t have a permit to go up in there.  Plus, they have tight restrictions on how close you can get to the whales inside the Park (some restrictions were tightened just today, he said).    In essence, he was apologizing in advance for the possibility that we may very well not see as many whales as we’d like.

     We did see quite a few – probably at least a dozen. But none very close, and only a few did any diving where they displayed their flukes.  And, even when they did, it happens so quickly that it’s almost impossible to get a good photo of it.  But Bill got a couple of decent ones.

                                               There's a full fluke - Hurray!

So that aspect of the trip was a little disappointing.  We actually had better success with whales over at Sitka, I think.  But the water was calm and lovely, and we saw several sea otters up closer than we had before (mainly at the dock by the boat).  They are so cute!   

 

 

 

Also some porpoises. 

 

So we enjoyed the relaxing 3 ½ hours on the water, and  are glad it was relatively inexpensive, as these trips go.

     When we arrived back at the dock, it looked like Grand Central Station!  The entire staging area was filled with vehicles, and people gathered all around.  Ferry day must be the equivalent of Wrangell’s Post Office as the gathering place for everyone to meet and greet.  Hoopla at the Gustavus ferry dock. 

 

This was a fitting scene to end our stay in this unique little hamlet, not exactly Norman Rockwell, but an authentic slice of Americana. 

     Spent some time up on the sun deck, where it was quickly clearing and warming up. A musical trio was jamming.  Bill had met the violinist/fiddle player the other day at the Park Visitor Center; he was a summer Park Service employee who was attending the university at Fairbanks and who was really into music as a hobby.  

 

 

 

     After a while of being serenaded by them, we went to get some lunch at the cafeteria.  Then settled into relaxing & reading.  Before we knew it, we were approaching Juneau.  It had turned into an absolutely beautiful afternoon, and I spent the last 45 minutes or so up on the sundeck again (Bill was napping in the lounge.)  The mountain peaks approaching Juneau appeared spectacular. 

As did views of Mendenhall Glacier becoming more and more prominent.

 

This part of the trip alone was worth the price of admission! 

                                        

     Soon got home.  Nice to see our little RV again, welcoming us.  With running water inside – hot and cold!  And a real bed that we can share J.  Got everything put away and put a potato in the oven to bake so we can have chili-stuffed potato tonight.  Back to home cookin’! 

     So hoping that this gorgeous weather stays thru tomorrow, at least.  If so, we’ll take the kayaks out early to get on the lake at Mendenhall.