We berthed in Juneau early on Tuesday morning and because our tours were only in the early afternoon, we had a leisurely breakfast and disembarkation. The docks were off to the side of the town and were full of cruise ships. We are sharing the seas with the Norwegian Pearl, the Radiance, and the Norwegian Jewell so you can imagine that the towns get busy. Speaking to the one bus driver about the situations, there are possibly only 5 days in the season from April to the end of September when there isn't a cruise liner in port. as you can imagine, the shops and restaurants are very tourist orientated with fleeces,jackets, trinkets and jewelry shops abounding! Many of them are running end of season sales! It also sounds as though many of the workforce travel south in the winter to other jobs!
Back to Juneau, Karen and I headed to the Tramway to halfway up Mount Roberts and wandered around the nature centre plus did a bit of a walk - not easy when the left foot doesn't bend at the ankle and there was some muddy steep areas underfoot but the boot held out.
One of the cars to the top of the mountain
A view of the Star Princess with the Norwegian Sea Jewell in the background
Juneau in the foreground with the causeway to the island of Douglas
We discovered that the shop had free wifi, so did a catchup session. Karen has had an Internet package on board, which has been very useful as we have had to re-arrange our flights (more later). As I hadn't been on line at all, I read email and posted some photos on Facebook. Karen continued into town but I stuck around for our helicopter flip over the glaciers.
We were picked up with about 10 other passengers and taken through the town, past some of the landmarks including the pelican statue in front of the government buildings - the only Pelicans in Alaska - they ordered an eagle statue from Florida but the wrong statue was delivered! And then we arrived at the helicopter pad on Douglas Island,
The start off an amazing adventure!
After we sat through a safety video, were strapped into flight Vests and given overshoes for walking on the glacier. In my case, 1 overshoe of size 6 but they didn't have anything bigger for the left foot! We had a woman pilot who took us very skillfully over 3 glaciers and landed us on one spit of the Taco glacier called 'Hole in the Wall' near a crevice with a waterfall tumbling down the one side. I was helped out and managed a very short shuffle to the edge as well as a walk round the helicopter, holding onto various bits. It was cold and windy but quite amazing.
Flying over one of the glaciers - I love the folds
The view out of the helicopter door of the ice peaks on the glacier and the colour
Looking towards the other helicopter over the crevice
After a very slow walk I was able to peer into the crevice
As you may have gathered, this was a once-in-lifetime experience for me!!!! Still smiling at the memories!
Everywhere we went, there were comments about the weather. It appears that we experienced one of the only 42 days a year without rain. South African luck!
We landed after this awesome trip, had a quick tea on board the ship and then boarded buses for our evening whale watching tour and experienced a traffic jam at rush hour, as we travelled the main highway which was undergoing some construction. Along with a number of other boats, we travelled for about 1/2 hour towards Sentinel Island passing other small islands plus with views of various glaciers. Although the day was warm there was quite a windchill factor, so my Everest jacket was again used. Once in the area, the humpback whales treated us to quite a display including 2 separate pairs breaching, something not often seen in these parts. I gave up trying to photograph them as I kept missing the good bits so just watched the magnificent display.
I haven't been partaking in much of the nightlife. By the end of the day, it is a relief to take off the boot and get horizontal. That is not to say that I haven't enjoyed both the food and the various beverages on offer. We have eaten in a number of the traditional dining restaurants as well as the buffet and paid a cover charge to eat in the Crab Shack as well - having the correct implements and numerous crab legs to practice on was great fun. We have eaten well!!!
Juneau has taken over on this blog so there is still a part 3 to come!!!!
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