When we sailed into Juneau it was very foggy and the ship had to blow its horn a number of times to make certain we did not run into anything or anything didn’t run into us. At least that’s what I’ve been told. I slept through all that and the fog had lifted and we were at the dock at 8:30 when I woke up. 🙂
Since I had another flight today to see the Juneau glacier field I was worried it might be canceled but as time went on toward my noon flight the clouds lifted and thinned some so the excursion was on. We left the ship and after a safety briefing of sorts we boarded a classic DeHavilland Otter Floatplane, ran up the engine and took off in front of the Coral Princess at the dock. I managed to get the front seat on the right side and could shoot both through the window by me but also with a quick turn the window behind me. Did a lot of turning. 🙂
We followed the channel to the Inland Passage and then turned left into the Taku Inlet. In order we flew over the Norris, Taku, Hole-In-The-Wall, West Twin, and East Twin glaciers. We then turned around and flew back over the glaciers in reverse order listed above so both sides of the plane could get good views. We also did some flying over other areas and then back down the Taku Inlet and up the channel back to Juneau. I am pretty sure the photo shown here is the Hole-In-The-Wall Glacier after having gone through the couple hundred photos to try to time coordinate them with the map I have sitting next to me.
When we got back I walked around a bit but four cruise ships were in town and it was awash with people. Plus, since this is the end of the season most of what you walked to were shopping areas where clearance sales were on to squeeze the last dime out of the last visitors. I heard one of the vendors say that tomorrow two more ships will be in and that will be the end for this year. If so, then we are really riding the tail of the season.
Came back to the ship in time for the lecture given by Libby Riddles, the first female Iditarod champion. She had one of her retired sled dogs with her. Very interesting finding out how the training goes and how the dogs and musher bond. She also related some of her more harrowing adventures like when her dog team ran off without her but she managed to hold onto a rope at the back of the sled and was dragged some three miles before they stopped.
It’s just after 6pm now so off to supper. Tomorrow we sail Glacier Bay. Oh yes, it just started to lightly rain again. 🙂