Cruise to Alaska Day 2: Tuesday, Sept 9, 2008

We woke up in Alaska's inside passage.



By 2:00 p.m. we were in Juneau AK. Right we are waiting for the Norwegian Star to move out of our spot.




Despite the rush to disembark, we made it to our tour bus for our our Whale Watching & Wildlife Adventure Quest from Auke Bay. On the way, our drive stopped by so we could get a view of the Mendenhall Galcier.

At Auke Bay, the captain pointed out an island that is part of Juneau. The residence are required to pay property taxes to Juneau, but they do not get any services like electricity, sewer, water, etc. The island only has 2 full time residents. As we passed the home of one we saw a wind turbine in his front yard. The captain said he has a composting toilet and collects rain water. I think it sounds kind of nice--except for the isolation. No pictures of that. But, I did get pictures of the Oracs we saw!!



Okay, not great pictures, but what an amazing treat! There was a pod of 5-6 females swimming along. We saw a harbor seal taking refuge near the boat so he wouldn't become a tasty snack.

We also saw a couple of humpbacks( mostly) and a island of male harbor seals. Appearently, when the females are done with them they get sent back tired, weak, and hungry.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get some from Cori and Morgan. They had better camera.