Another day into our expedition! We were already at the northwestern tip of Admiralty Island, and humpback whales were to be seen. We slowly approached one and enjoyed the way it blew and dove repeatedly.
On we sailed and still in the morning darkness we were able to see the remains of a large female humpback whale on the beach. Large pieces of the animal were still visible – white, mostly blubber, which seven (repeat, seven) bears were feasting upon. They were accompanied by a good number of ravens, enjoying the same feast, always trying to get out of the way of a large brown bear changing places. A group of this size can feed on a massive amount of food, and partially forego strong aggression: very few fighting bouts were observed. These were all brown bears, also called grizzly bears in the highlands of Canada and the lower forty-eight.
We kept on with our schedule, going around the northern tip of Admiralty Island, where a series of fishing boats were sailing along, and more importantly, whale-watching boats from Juneau with a good number of watchers on each vessel. A pair of whales came up to blow repeatedly, to the great happiness of all the observers!
On we traveled, getting nearer to the capital of the state, Juneau.
Before reaching Juneau we again stopped to observe two humpback whales going back and forth, but every time defying us to guess where they would reappear! And then we proceeded to our final destination today: Auke Bay and Juneau. Here we boarded two buses that took us to the big Mendenhall Glacier, a few miles away, where we had a good two hours to walk to the huge waterfall or simply to an observation point to enjoy the view. Sadly, this glacier is also receding, as are most of the world’s glaciers, besides getting thinner.
Back to the buses and after a short ride along the so-few miles of highway, we arrived in the heart of the city. Here we dispersed along the few streets that form the commercial section (with 32 jewelry shops!) and other sights, such as the Red Dog Saloon…
Later we boarded our ship, which had docked in the city, to enjoy a good dinner.
