Juneau

The weather in Juneau was not as good as we had in Ketchikan. It was overcast and drizzly for the entire day. It tried several times to rain, but that only lasted for a few brief moments. The temperature was around 50 degrees, and it was rather blustery. Our morning excursion was the Wildlife & Maritime History Cruise. We took a bus ride north from the pier to Aucke bay. "Aucke" as we were informed in native for "by the bay". So in the infinite wisdom of the white man, the bay was named Aucke bay - or translated: by the bay bay.

The tour was run by Four Seasons Excursions. They were fabulous people, very friendly and genuinely interested in us. We didn't feel like a heard of cattle, or the next boat load of tourists. The really wanted us to feel comfortable, and made sure that everyone could get a good look at what was being shown and discussed. The Naturist was extremely knowledgeable and had a very pleasant speaking voice. She gave us just the right amount of information - not too much detail, but not a scripted speech either.

The boat itself was quite large. It was of a twin hull catamaran design with an 800hp diesel in each hull. There were 2 decks for seating, plus you could ascend to the roof for viewing. One could also go to the bow or the stern and get great-unrestricted views from there as well. I found the bow to be difficult to shoot from, as the floor was not flat, but the stern and the roof were quite well suited for photography. The roof would easily accommodate a tripod. The boat was reasonably stable; especially considering the how rough the water was that day. The tour offered complimentary lunch, coffee, hot chocolate and tea. We were able to get up and move about at our leisure - no sit down and buckle up while in transit. The tour lasted about 4 hours.

Even though the weather was overcast, cold and drizzly, we were able to view quite a large amount of wildlife. A plus on our trip, was the sighting of a group of 4 Orca's of various size. We also watched a followed humpback whale for a while. There were harbor seals hanging out on a navigation buoy and, a plus for me, several American Bald Eagles. The pilot of our craft was quite willing to spend time watching the wildlife and to "chase" them about the bay - no hard and fast course to follow. Even with the somewhat large size of the boat, we were able to get very close to most everything that they wanted us to see. Another plus on our tour was being able to see a large bald eagle's nest with juvenile eagles in attendance.

	Sea lions resting on a buoy
	Another view of the sea lions on the buoy
	Another view of the sea lions seals on the buoy
	Bald Eagle pearched on rocks overlooking Aucke Bay
	Another Bald Eagle pearched on rocks overlooking Aucke Bay
	A pair of Orca's feeding in Aucke Bay
	Another view of the Orca's
	A "head on" shot of one of the Orca's
	The fluke of the Humpback whale we chased.
	Harbor Seals hanging out near the shoreline.
	A fishing shack on one of the small islands in Aucke Bay.
	A Bald Eagle proudly pearched in a tree overlooking Aucke Bay
	Another view of the Bald Eagle
	Another view of the Bald Eagle. He was watching us closely
	Another view of the Bald Eagle.
	Another view of the Bald Eagle.

On our way up to our second excursion, our bus driver was able to stop by briefly at the Mendenhal glacier and let us to a quick look. Mendenhal is a state park. But unlike most of the other glaciers, which are only accessible via boat or air, Mendenhal is right by the road. You can drive to it. So the state has set up the typical touristy type buildings, walkways, scenic viewing places, etc. And considering that Alaska is not flush with roads, this is an anomaly.

Margot and I also took a "Whale Watching" excursion. It was almost like the Wildlife & Maritime History cruise. This time we were in a much smaller, albeit faster, boat. This boat sat much lower in the water, and had limited outside viewing area. I felt that this trip was much less informative that the other trip. Of course it was geared at strictly wildlife viewing. We saw the same collection of wildlife, as we were in the same bay. A big plus on this trip was watching one of the Orca's breach. This trip lasted about 2 hours.

Juneau also has a wonderful tramway that goes right from the dock to the top of the mountain. We would have taken the tramway, except there wasn't much point, as we couldn't see the top of the mountain, due to it being obscured by clouds. I'm told that the view is spectacular.

Juneau is extremely touristy near the dock, but much like a small rural Ohio town, once our of the tourist trap part of town. It was just amazing to me how close the cruise ships could dock to the town. It really couldn't have been more than a block from the cruise ship to the city street. Literally, it was just hundreds of feet between the boat and the stores.

I used the 100-400, Velvia and the monopod for most of the pictures. I did shoot a couple rolls of Fuji Superia ISO 400 print film. The 50 speed film made shutter speeds quite slow on the dreary overcast day. 400 speed would have been the correct choice. I tried to keep apertures as small as possible, but I was typically shooting f/6.3 or f/7.1. I really wanted a large depth of field, but at 1/3 or 2/3 stop's less that f/5.6 on a 400mm lense, I'm not sure that I'll have a very large depth of field. My shutter speeds were typically in the 1/160th range, save the 400 speed film. Thank Canon for inventing "IS" and my 100-400 has it.

	This tug boat greated our view from our cabin window when we awoke in Juneau
	Another view of the tug boat
	A fishing boat in Aucke Bay
	The Coast Guard cutter stationed in Aucke Bay, Juneau.
	One of the ships operated as part of the Alaska Maritime Highway.
	A view of the bow of the Matanuska.
	Another view of the bow of the Matanuska
	Another fishing boat in Aucke Bay
	A rather run down fishing boat anchored in Aucke Bay

	Mendenhal Glacier
	An "iceberg" floating at the foot of the Mendenhal Glacier
	Another view of the Mendenhal Glacier