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When we woke up this morning, the ship was docked in Juneau. Jacque & I found a table by the windows and watched the bustling street & dock below as we ate breakfast. Someone at a neighboring table spotted a bald eagle in the trees across the way – its white head was just a dot on the otherwise green backdrop of the tree covered mountainside.
Today’s schedule includes one the two pre-paid excursions we have signed up for. Today’s excursion is Whale Watching and Wildlife Quest. This is a 20 minute bus ride to another dock where we load onto an excursion/sight-seeing boat for a 4 hour tour through inner passage waters near Juneau. We had eight or 10 encounters with humpback whales, and one encounter with seals. The whales were only visible when breathing and the arch of their back, with just a couple showing their tails. There were no breaches. One highlight was when there were a group four swimming together, one of which was apparently a calf – the other sightings were "flying solo". The only other sea mammals spotted were the seals lounging on a buoy. This is a common spot for them, since there is usually fish swimming around the rocks below – easy eating for the seals.
Upon completing the sightseeing expedition and the bus ride back to the cruise ship, we decided to take the Mount Roberts Tramway ride up ‘top-side’ to get some lunch and see what we could see. One of the attractions at the top was a short movie of the history of the Tlingit Indian clan, which was introduced by a native Tlingit woman. There was also a bald eagle that had been rescued but cannot be rehabilitated and released back to the wild.
The evening’s entertainment, back on ship, was Michael Olson and Natalie Grant. Michael is the drummer in Smitty’s band, but has recently released a solo album. Natalie has been turning out CD’s & touring for a few years now. She started off her set with a couple of her recent hits, while being accompanied by the band. She then sang another song she had recorded/released that was written by Matthew West, so she had him come out and accompany her while she sang it. Her husband played the keyboard during those songs, and was her lone accompanist for the rest of her set, which also included a song that her husband wrote and she sung at their wedding. She was very much enjoying and appreciating this time they could spend together as he has been doing a lot of studio work and she’s be touring. While on this cruise, their twins were staying with Natalie’s parents in Seattle – and she in her 17th week of pregnancy with their next child!
We wrapped up our day with a walk around the boat to take in another late night (10:00 PM plus) sunset, and capping it off with a trip to the Lido Restaurant for some ice cream.
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