Alaskan Cruise Vacay Day 8: Whale watching extravaganza 070517

Had a big breakfast before heading down to the meeting area for our whale watching group. Day starts off pretty foggy but no rain so that was nice. Find our group, get on the bus and head out of town towards the dock for the whale watching boat. On the way out of town, notice bald eagles everywhere; on light posts, flying around in the sky, chilling on the ground throughout the marshes, etc.

Get off the boat and the clouds are low but there are some cool buildings across the way.

The funicular is disappearing into the clouds.

I bet these guys found something... lets check it out.

Found an orca swimming around these boats.

Yep, follow the boats and they will lead you to victory.

Momma whale swimming around.

Little dude swimming.

One of the other boats is also interested in this educational display

Cool mark on the back there.

The 2 swimming along side each other.

Whale swimming with the birds flying close to the water in the background.

Orca swimming

Orcas thrashing in the water

As the day progresses, the clouds melt away and the sun comes out with clear blue skies which make for a beautiful day. Get on the boat and are joined up with our guides and then head out to see the whales. We cruise for a little bit and head to a place where some other boats had gathered to see a killer whale teaching their kid how to hunt by attacking and presumably killing a seal; was cool seeing this education happening right in front of our eyes. After that settles down a little bit, we head farther away from the port and find a pod of humpbacks which are in the process of bubble feeding, which they do as a group and is apparently pretty rare to see. Was pretty awesome seeing the whole process and being able to see ahead of time where they will be coming up. After allowing the whales to swim around, we head back to the dock and stop by a buoy to see some sea lions chilling on it and playing in the water nearby.

Looks like this guy farted haha

These guys are close.

Apparently you can identify whales based on the underside of their tail fin.

I wonder how they got their names...

Little early to catch all of them.

Kinda a cool sight, disturbing the calm waters.

Lots of of whales breaching the surface

Whales after breaching surface on one of their feeds.

Humpback whale fins diving

Example of the Humpback whales bubble feeding

Another video of the humpbacks diving

Whales swimming/diving next to the boat

A little fish boat wants in on this sea life action.

Those birds make this pic look like it is dirty.

Beautiful day to be out at sea.

That buoy looks a little weighted down

Sea Lions chilling on a buoy. Poor guy in the water tried to get up, friends won king of the rock.

Now that the sky had cleared up quite a bit, we noticed while looking back into town that the Mendenhall glacier was visible from the boat/road/etc. - it was pretty close to town and was interesting being able to see a glacier not too far away as you drive around town. I wonder if that ever gets old. We dock and get back on the bus and head to town. Driver stops a little before the drop off point to let some people off so we get off as well and start exploring the city. It is a cute town with food stalls and food trucks everywhere, gently sloped streets, and ravens the size of toddlers. We eventually get back to the boat and go into a presentation by Libby Riddles (famous dog musher/ first woman iditarod champion). When she was finished, we head to the dining room for a wine tasting that we signed up for on the first day; the presenter was funny and very well informed, while the wines were good but with small pours (which I guess it was a tasting so that makes sense). After finishing our wine class, we head out onto the walkway to enjoy the coastal scenery for a bit before heading to dinner with yet another group, feasting on escargot, lobster tail, and prawns. We finish up the delicious dinner then go back out onto the deck to watch the sunset and enjoy the weather for a bit before ending the night watching a comedic magician do his thing, which was extremely entertaining.

Mendenhall Glacier from the road back to town.

Other side of the bay now that it is nice out.

Waterfall!

Totem center. Pretty cool.

Look at the size of that bird!!!!!

Cool hillside houses in the neighborhood. 

Self explanatory.

Front of the Governor's Mansion.

Drive way in the back of the Governors mansion.

The funicular just floats in the sky. Magic Alaska.

That's a beautiful mountain up there. With some long waterfalls.

City street with a little charm :).

Another cruise ship off in the distance.

Beautiful sunset. This was kind of a trend on this trip. 

Alaskan Cruise Vacay Day 7: Weather is a fickle mistress 070417

Showered and got a quick bite before heading over to the helipad for our first shore excursion - helicopter glacial landing and exploring in Skagway. Walk over to the helipad and as we are waiting for the safety video, weather moves in and cancels our trip even though a group went before us and not too long after we left they seemed to be going again but since they were all booked up, we couldnt be moved to a later slot - huge bummer as I never have been on a glacier before, nor have I ever ridden in a helicopter. Oh well.

As we exit the boat, we see the hill side littered with ads  painted onto the rocks.

Close up of one of the sections

The welcome patrol is out in full force - thats a lot of nice old cars.

This train was moving ever so slowly across the tracks. Sure did produce plenty of steam and noise in the process.

Let that parade begin.

Old School fire truck in the parade.

A little bit newer model.

One of many wicked themed floats in the parade.

Got some banner people walking in the parade.

Found the old cars now in the parade.

Slightly older car/tractor?

Murica!

Mountie's in the 4th of July parade.

Teaching the youth the skills they need for future success.

Live music for the parade attendees. 

Here's a little bit of bagpipe entertainment

Another old car cruising in the parade.

Throwback float. I am pretty sure these kids have never seen the movie they are portraying.

The National Park Rangers walking in the parade with their mascot?

As we were walking around town, came upon the annual arm wrestling competition.

Part of the sky finally clearing up from earlier.

Seems promising...

Came in from the cold to grab a pint in the happy endings saloon.

We walk around town a bit and quickly realized it was july 4th as they were lining up all these classic cars and floats and had a parade where most of the floats happened to be centered around Wicked the musical which I didnt quite understand. After that ends, we walk around some more and wind up at a saloon for a beer and to warm up a little bit. After that we head back to the boat for lunch as it is free and not too far of a walk. Take a power nap (having woke up really early to catch our helicopter ride) and then head back out into Skagway to check out their brewing company. It is a small place and we grab some beers and head up to their game room to hang out for a little bit. Once we are done there, we head back to the boat and realized it has finally stopped sprinkling. Get to the boat and do some laundry and watch as people take pictures of puppies a local group has brought on board. After finishing the laundry, go to see Steve Hites who is a folk singer/storyteller talking about local history; its a pretty cool show with a lot of information and he makes it rather fun. Went to dinner in the dining room for some delicious scallops and shrimp with more randos before heading to the indoor theater for the musical "on the bayou"; probably the weirdest musical I have ever seen having good classic rock music but seemingly no real story and then an abrupt end with a bunch of weird figurines dancing around stage. Was a quick show (~45 mins if I remember right) that ended right before the ship was to celebrate July 4th with a balloon drop in the atrium. After some music and celebrating the holiday, we go to bed for tomorrow's long day on the shore in Juneau.

Its about to happen!!!!

Balloon drop video - happy 4th of July everybody! :)

Alaskan Cruise Vacay Day 6: Another day of glacier viewing 070317

Woke up and we were already in glacier national park. They had stopped to be boarded by some park rangers who would be setting up a table with information and speaking over the PA system on the boat about what we were looking at and giving history lessons about the area as we cruise around.

That one to the left seems to be a little older/bigger than the rest. 

There are quite a few of those guys all over the place.

Another monstrous glacier.

Seagull just hanging on the ice. Guess even birds like to get a free ride every now again.

This glacier looks a little bit dirtier than the others but still massive.

Love the sky in this pic.

This guy seems to have strayed from his group on the rock.

Cruising on a little piece of ice.

Beauty is all around us.

There seems to be a glacier in the distance.

Water finding its way home.

I find it amazing that you can have mountains raising out of the water like this. Coming from a place where mountains are land locked with lakes here and there, to have ranges of mountains just along the coast and in the water is kinda cool.

Boat for size comparison of the glacier in the background.

  

Close up of one of the glaciers here in the park.

View of the glacier winding its way down the mountain.

Sun is coming out to play and it picked a nice place to do it.

Views abound in this park.

We get dressed and go out just in time to see some sea lions and seals sitting up on some rocks and then sail towards the main glacier in the park. In the sailing time, we go down and grab some lunch at one of the nice restaurants on board doing free lunch for everyone (normally to eat there you pay for your meals) so we get some fish and chips then get back out there to see the glacier. Wasnt as blue/pretty as the one yesterday but was equally monstrous and impressive. We bounce around to different viewing areas all afternoon listening to the rangers and trying to spot wildlife. We eventually drop the rangers off at their outpost and continue on our way. We then go to the dining room for dinner to have some seafood bisque and red king crab legs. I am sure if I lived on a cruise ship, I would be ~900 lbs and dead at 34 cause the food was sooo delicious you always just want more. Talked a bit with our new table mates before heading out to catch the magic show. Turns out it was full so we plan the next couple days loosely (we start our port of calls tomorrow) and then head up to the buffet room to grab some tea and coffee and set up shop at the outdoor movie screen in the cold/mist to see hidden figures under the stars. This one I do finish as it is a great movie and then we head to bed to make sure we get up in time for our port of call.

Time to brave the elements to watch a movie I have heard was pretty good. It did not disappoint.