Whales!

So yesterday was spectacular.  How should I describe today then?  

WOW might be appropriate!  

After docking in Juneau and an early breakfast I was down on the pier to meet the rest of my group for the Photo Sea and Land Safari - in effect, whale watching and a nature hike in addition to receiving some tuition in photography.  It was brilliant!  I took nearly four hundred photographs while out but have managed to whittle them down to about just over a hundred! 

Although the day seemed to dawn brightly, there was a fog lingering over the bay as we headed out to sea in a small motor boat.  Our photo expert was a photo journalist who is specialising in wild life at the moment and he was able to pass on tips about virus aspects of photography which was great.  Our boat expert, Captain Jim, took us out to an area known for its abundance of herring and therefore whales, stopping to see a seal lion ringing a bell on a large buoy on the way.  

I can't give enough superlatives about the whale watching.  We saw hump backs - a mother and baby, plus about three or four others, who swam about, spouted and dived time and time again, showing their tails really quite close to us.  Just beautiful.  

The land part of our trip was pretty good too!  We saw numerous salmon, come back to their spawning grounds, a bald eagle in a tree, and a porcupine on our way back in another tree - I hadn't realised that they were able to climb - and also another glacier at close quarters, the Mendenhall, which is retreating fairly rapidly.  The only (slight) disappointment was not seeing any bears.

Dave participated in a bike ride and beer tasting this morning and I met him on the pier after our trips for a walk round Juneau and a visit to the museum.  

This evening was our second "formal" evening meal, in which we we offered large lobster tails.  Yummy!  It ended with the chefs, waiters and all serving staff being presented to us and parading down the fancy staircase.  

Here are some comments about Juneau and other things I have learnt during the day.

• I didn't realise that Anchorage was not the capital until a couple of days ago.

• The capital could have been called "Harris" as he and Juneau were the two founders of the settlement.

• Juneau has a population of only 32,000.

•  A bald eagle has a wing span of seven feet.

• Humpback whales can be 45 feet in length and weigh 45 tons. 

• They migrate to Hawaii in September and stay there until April/May.

• They have heir young whilst in Hawaii but don't eat a great deal.  Most of their feeding takes place off Alaska.