Today kicked off with a 5 am wake up call as we entered Tracy’s Arm and witnessed some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip.
Tracy’s Arm wasn’t a stop, more a cruise through a passage of water that was home to wildlife, green water filled with ice, glaciers, and an amazing landscape. It was well worth getting up early for.
Adding to the experience was the commentary of Brent Nixon through the PA system. A very enthusiastic guy indeed who lives and breathes Alaska.
He would give us quotes from his journal and then finish it off with a very dramatic ‘this is Tracy’s Arm’.
After 4hrs or so of cruising through Tracy’s Arm, we arrived at our stop for the day, the capital city of Alaska named Juneau.
With no plans for the day, we walk downtown which was a fair walk of 25 minutes.
We arrive in downtown Juneau to see a stack of people selling tours.
We suss out a potential dog sledding trip, but end up agreeing on a whale watching tour, which would be Linnie’s (Australia) birthday present and something that she has always wanted to do.
With the tour not until 5:45 pm and the current time around 2 pm, we decide to go for a walk around town and head for a beer at a local pub.
Once we got out we could tell it was getting chilly, so head back to the boat to swap our shorts for pants.
While on the ship we stop for a quick snack of pizza and cookies and then catch a bus back to town rather than walking this time. We sit next to a couple of the dancers from the show the previous night and listen to them answer a few questions from star struck passengers.
We make the shuttle that would take us to the glacier and the whale watching pick up spot with about 1 minute to spare, however, we had to stand in the packed out bus the whole way which was about 20 odd minutes.
A quick stop to an impressive glacier and waterfall spot which ended up being a 45-minute walk and then it was time for whales!
We wait for another bus to take us to the docks and then we were ushered into our whale watching boat. Armed with our trusty camera, we were excited about the prospect of finally see a whale close up.
And disappointed we were not, we got to see a pod of ten humpback whales! On top of that, the whales were bubble feeding which is a very rare for tourists to see.
Bubble Feeding is where the whales heard schools of fish by blowing bubbles together until they get to the surface and then feast on the huddled and confused fish below.
Right before we were about to head back after watching the huge whales breaching and flashing their tails for about 2 hours, the whole pod jumped up head first right near our boat. We could actually hear them blowing bubbles and then blowing out their blow holes; it was incredible!
Totally satisfied with our adventure we head back to the ship. Happy to get a seat on the bus this time, we arrive back to the dock and make our way back up the gangway, by this time it was about 9:30.
We go through the scanner and security; Adam reaches into his pocket for his ship card and (no he hasn’t lost it) he paper cuts the skin under this finger nail and from the noises that were coming out of him, it must have bloody hurt!
It was just before sunset and the view from atop the deck was perhaps the best sunset we had ever seen. The sky was practically orange and purple, so we stayed up top for a while to marvel at it before heading off for some tea.
We head to the room where we get changed for a very late meal, walk out of the room and realise that we left both cards in the room and couldn’t get back in. Luckily there was a worker in the hall, and he let us back in, with just our first names I might add.
But to our surprise, we could only find Linnie’s key. We figured that somewhere in the commotion of Adam slicing his whole finger off with a piece of paper; he had dropped the card. With no luck finding it, we pass by guest services and get him a new one.
After all the excitement we have a very very late dinner of whatever was left over at the buffet, retire to the room to watch some TV and then drop off to sleep.
More Photos from Tracey’s Arm & Juneau
