Whale Watching

At 6:00 am on September 14 we docked at Juneau and had a few minutes to cruise downtown. We spent most of our time on the second floor of the Tongas Trading Company in its outdoor provision store. Glenda was looking for some earmuffs to replace the ones she lost. I joked with her that they must have fallen overboard because we were both very careful to make sure that our stateroom stayed neat with everything it its place. I told her that a whale had stolen her earmuffs and must be wearing them for his trip to Hawaii. I brought my old binoculars on the trip, the 7x50’s that I bought at K-Mart in Raleigh when I was in seminary. It seems that a lens or a prism has been jarred, because they are no longer properly aligned. I saw a pair of 16x50 Bushnell binoculars at the Tongas store, but they are asking $100 for them. I thought the price to be a bit high. (When I returned home I found an identical pair that Amazon.com is selling for $60.) Returning to the ship we boarded a bus that took us to a smaller dock where we boarded the whale-watching boat. We spent most of the morning on the bay, and in fact, did see a few humpback whales spouting and surfacing. I got a few decent pictures of some flukes and of one “spy hop.” Back on land we got some excellent hands-on photographic instruction as we hiked the East Glacier Loop Trail. Finally we were at the Mendenhall Glacier itself, which afforded ample photographic opportunities. I think our guide’s name was Scott. He is a former National Park Ranger, and an extremely knowledgeable naturalist and photographer. At about four o’clock in the afternoon, we left Juneau for Ketchikan.Read more