Saturday, June 9. So we docked in Juneau at 5am. There were 3 large cruise ships in port - far from the maximum of 5. It was another cool (15C and mostly overcast day). We had a quick 'early risers' breakfast and disembarked early at 7:30am. In spite of what we had been told beforehand there was no free transfer to the airport until 11am so we took a taxi to pick up the hire car we had booked. Juneau airport is some 20k's from town so the taxi cost $30 with tip. We arrived at our hotel, the Best Western Country Lane which is only about 1km from the airport before 9am. By a stroke of luck our room was ready so we dropped our luggage then headed out to see the sights. We left the town center until later in the day as there was an Indian festival in town and many streets were closed off for a parade.
Our first stop was the Mendenhall Glacier which was only 5k's or so from our hotel. The Glacier is most impressive and very accessible as is the visitor centre. We took a couple of short walks - one to waterfall right at the edge of the glacier along the lake, the other along a creek with bear warning signed everywhere but we did not see any. We headed back to the hotel and had lunch at a local diner (the Valley Diner) which was so classic 50's America I wished we had taken the camera. On the way back we stopped at Walmart to buy a beer and some diet coke - Dieter had to produce id to buy the beer !!
At 1pm Era Helicopters picked us up for our pre-booked "Glacier Adventure" which included a helicopter ride to the Taku glacier on the Juneau Ice Fields, a 15 minute walk on the glacier (easy - nothing like Dieter's 2 hour hike on the Franz Joseph Glacier in NZ) then a copter ride back to base - total trip was 53 minutes. On the trip back some people spotted a bear in the distance.
Back at the hotel we got our car and drove into town - where we took the cable car ride up to the top of Roberts mountain - we had a drink and admired the view as the sun had come out. From here we walked around town which consisted mostly of jewellery shops - but the waterfront boardwalk was very nice.
We got back to the hotel just in time to get ready for dinner. We ate at the restaurant at the Travelodge right next door to our hotel - it was "Mexican" with many other regular dishes - the food was about a 3 out of 10 but our waitress was a hoot.
Sunday, June 10. Off to Glacier Bay today. I got up at 6am to run a load of washing at the guest laundry. Dieter returned our car while I got ready then we had the free breakfast at the hotel before heading out to the airport for our 20 flight to Gustavus (Glacier Bay airport). We flew on Wings airline which runs 8 seater / single engine planes. We got to our hotel, the Glacier Bay Lodge, right in the national park. We checked in and headed to the restaurant for lunch as it was now after 1:00pm. Following lunch - we took a couple of the short walks which start at the lodge - on the beach trail we had a very exciting encounter with a big black bear - he was standing right on the trail as we rounded a corner - less that 50 meters away. We backed away slowly as he ambled down to the beach then back to the trail. We walked up to a house which overlooked the trail and asked a lady who was working in her garden what to do. At that stage someone else showed up to say there was a bear and the bear bounded off at great speed in the opposite direction into the woods. We had dinner at the lodge (halibut for me, salmon for Dieter) - pretty good; then off to bed.
Monday, June 11. we had to get up very early for our 8 hour Glacier Bay boat tour - starting at 7:15am. The day started out cold (12C and light drizzle becoming heavier as the morning went on - it finally stopped for good around mid-day and there were even a few patches of blue). The cruise was a real highlight for Alaska - besides some very impressive glaciers you can see all sorts of wildlife. We visited the following glaciers: Grand Pacific which is only about 1k from the Canadian border, Margerie, Lamplugh, and Reid). Our tour did not seem to see as much wildlife as the one 2 days before based on talking to other guests. We did see, many many sea otters, humpback whales, puffins (yippee), harbour seals, stellar sea lions, brown bears, mountain goats, arctic terns, kittiwakes, common murre, cormorants, pigeon guimont, bald eagles (one sitting on an iceberg). We saw 2 mega cruise ships also doing a Glacier Bay tour (the Island Princess and the Sapphire Princess) as well as a few other small tour boats, one the Alaska Dream takes overnight trips. On the way home we picked up two kayakers who had been out in the wilderness for a few days - they came back a day early due to the unseasonably cold weather.
Back at the lodge we freshened up then went to see a couple of short films about GB - we bumped into Ellen and Ian who had arrived that day - we had already planned to have dinner with them. Two other guests from the Wilderness Adventurer, Nancy and Eric, were also going to join us but changed their mind as they planned an early morning whale watching tour.
We had a good time at dinner with Ellen and Ian then went off to bed.
Tuesday, June 12. We had a bit of a sleep in - then a cooked brekkie - oh that slippery slide. It was a warmer and sunny day - however the cloud moved in again in the late morning. We decided on the Bartlett River Walk (2.5 hours return from the lodge) - a nice walk but I was worried about a bear or moose attack; neither of which eventuated due mainly to my effective "bear calls" (i.e. hey bear - where are you - over there? …. in a deep loud voice). We returned to the lodge around 1:30 pm for a leisurely lunch then hung about in the lounge waiting for our 4pm transfer to Gustavus airport. At lunch we bumped into Nancy and Eric again who had been whale watching in the morning and they had some really amazing photos to show us. We had a late lunch then lounged around until our 5:30pm flight to Anchorage via Juneau on Alaska Airlines.