Juneau Downtown Historic District

Whale watching boat trip in Juneau today 🐳. Lovely rainy day so we bundled up in waterproof jackets with our thermals underneath and headed off the ship. Entertaining bus driver to take us to the boat - a middle aged lady from California who said she comes to Alaska every season to do this job and has done for 19 years. Doesn't see her husband from May to October each year, maybe that's the secret to a happy marriage 🤔🤣.
We did see about 3 humpback whales and a colony of sea lions but got very wet trying to take pics of whales who appear on the surface for about 2 seconds.
The onboard naturalist was informative and we learned a lot about whales, which was interesting. Each whale has unique markings on its tail (or fluke) a bit like our fingerprints, so they can all be identified. They eat all summer in places like Alaska to build up blubber and then migrate to warmer places like Hawaii for the winter when they don't eat at all for a few months. Apparently most whales don't have teeth, but they have baleen plates which filter out the small fish (eg crill) as their throats are only the size of a grapefruit and they can't swallow large things. Fact of the day: if you end up in the mouth of one of these whales, don't worry, you'd be spat out again because you're too big to go down the throat ☺️.
We were back on the ship about 4.30 so had a much needed drink to warm up and had a chat to a couple next to us about the Rockies. Mark went off for his acupuncture which he thinks helped ease his back a bit. May need more sessions once we're home....not at cruise prices hopefully!!
Lovely dinner. The food onboard is very good and all the staff are so friendly and can't do enough for you. Can't fault the service at all.Leia mais