I am resuming my blog with my favorite day from the entire cruise vacation. It's going to take a week to edit all the photos and write all the entries. Fortunately, I did keep my usual trip log, so it will help me recall most of what we did each day.
When we sailed into the port of Juneau, heavy fog hung over the dock and encircled the surrounding peaks. We boarded a bus with our driver 'Bama and he transported us to the bay where we climbed onto a two story catamaran. The captain skillfully steered us to a passage teeming with humpback whales! People dashed from one side of the deck to the other every time someone shouted out a new sighting. But the most thrilling moment was when one brave whale swam directly off the stern of the boat. We could feel the spray and see the whale's eye, blow hole, back and tail as it slipped by us and plunged back into the icy water.
Regulations limit the amount of time that the tour boats can stay in a whale feeding area because they don't want disrupt their natural patterns. The boat moved on and in the distance, the clouds hung low over the bay and in the distance, mountains rose above the clouds.
On a nearby island, a colony of sea lions relaxed on the beach.
Back on the bus, we drove to see the massive Mendenhall Glacier in Tongass National Park. In a stream nearby, the salmon were running and a bear family splashed about in their quest for a meal. Overhead, a bald eagle perched in a treetop and surveyed the scene. One of the forest rangers said they are scavengers as well as predators.
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