Skagway-Juneau

June 26 Part 1     BARB AND SARAH GO TO JUNEAU

Ready to go!

Fjordline Express 

Barb and I were up early on this cold (56 degrees) rainy morning for our day long trip to Juneau.  We boarded the catamaran "Fjordland Express" at the pier and settled in with warm coffee for the 3 hour ride.  The captain, Glenn Jacobson, and his deckhand daughter, Libby, gave us an amazing trip.

Leaving Skagway

Our first stop was at Haines to pick up a few more passengers, then we headed south to see the sights.  The cabin was warm and cozy, but I kept running outside to take pictures so I stayed cold and wet for much of the trip. Coffee and a continental breakfast  helped warm me up.

Long Falls

Glenn made a point of cruising close to shore or turning around and going back so that we had the best view of the beautiful waterfalls and glaciers along our way.  

The most fun was seeing the sea lion colony!   There were hundreds of them lounging on the rocks, swimming in the water, barking at us, and generally making us laugh.   We spent quite a bit of time watching them.

Sea lions on their rock. 

Sea lions in the water.  

Then came the whales!  We saw quite a few of them feeding and some had babies with them.  We had several really good sightings of the tail flukes as they sounded.  Unfortunately the telephoto lens on my camera was acting up, so I didn't get good pictures of the whales.


Salmon season has just started and as we got closer to Juneau we saw many commercial fishing boats with their nets out and their "tenders" standing by.  When the fishing boat is full, the tenders offload the catch and take it to the processing plants so that the fishermen can keep on fishing.

A Grey Line bus picked us up at a pier outside Juneau, and our driver was none other than Gary Jacobson, our captain's brother.  We had a nice narrated tour around and through Juneau before leaving the bus for three hours of lunch and free time.   We had lunch at a El Sombrero where I had my first ever fish taco.  It was full of grilled halibut and it was wonderful.

After some shopping and sightseeing, we returned to the bus for our trip to the Mendenhall Glacier where we spent an interesting hour before returning to the boat for the trip home.

Mendenhall Glacier

Glenn pulled the boat along side a fishing boat that was reeling in its nets full of fish.  We also saw several more whales, the Bernard Glacier, and the Eldred Rock Lighthouse.  We were served a light supper of smoked salmon chowder, which was delicious (much to my surprise since I am not usually fond of salmon.)  We arrived back in Skagway about 8:15, tired and happy.   

Eldred Rock Lighthouse