Tracy Arm Fjord and Juneau

We were advised to awake very early on Wednesday morning and go to the upper deck where we would see the most scenic views of Alaska while passing through Tracy Arm Fjord.  It was very cold, and a little disappointing because we think the best part of the passage was blocked by a big iceberg, causing us to turn around prematurely.  But we did capture some of the spectacular beauty of the Alaskan wilderness.

 

We spent the afternoon visiting the small capital city of Alaska, Juneau.  A whale watching excursion was the first order of business.  We were fortunate to find a cluster of about five whales which made for some pretty exciting moments that were hard to capture on film.  Unfortunately, there were several other boats surrounding the main attraction, and for some reason, our captain refused to work his way into a good viewing position.  You can see a bit of the wildlife experience we enjoyed below:  (For some reason the video quality is really poor, but I added it because it captures the best of our whale watching excursion.)

After returning from whale watching, we took a short hike to Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls.  The glacier is about 12 miles long and is located about 12 miles outside of Juneau.  Once again, we were afforded another wonderful day due to some unusually warm weather.

 

 

On our way back to the ship we were told that no visit to Juneau would be complete without a drink at the historic Red Dog Saloon.  It is the oldest man-made attraction in Juneau.  In our case, just a snapshot or two did the trick!