My Alaskan Adventure! - Part 3 - Juneau

DESTINATION ALASKA - JUNEAU

Juneau is the Capital of Alaska. The city sits at sea level at the bottom of some steep mountains, at the top is the Juneau Ice Field.

A little history for you.... the city was named after a gold prospector called Joe Juneau and prior to this the city has been known as Rockwell and Harrisburg ( after Mr Juneau's co gold prospector Richard Harris )
When we went up to breakfast the first thing that caught my eye was all the ship logos painted on the sides of the mountain. There was every ship you could think of there and apparently whenever a ship first visits Juneau it is right of passage to have the date and logo etched on the mountain. What a great moment to capture and fascinating to read!




Ship logo's painted on the wall



More ship logo's

Juneau is normally always featured on the Alaska cruise itineraries and is the best place to do a whale watching tour.
My tour came with a guarantee that if no whales were seen, I would get a full refund so it was a win win really.
Due to the amount of boats in the area the skippers all communicate with one another and if they spot a pod they will quickly give their location so other boats can come to the area. With this in mind it is pretty much a guarantee to see some whales and it is very exciting when the call comes through and the boat suddenly changes direction and off you speed!
I saw humpback whales and a pod of Orca's, very close up in some instances, on my tour. I didn't manage to catch a photo of the humpbacks but there are a few of my Orca pictures below.



Orca Whales in the Distance

Orca Whales

Orca Whales again

More Orca's

Juneau is also great for picking up some local souvenirs and again their very own locally smoked salmon and other fish. Yummy!

Some other popular choices of things to do in Juneau are as follows;

• Mendenhall Glacier
• Outdoor Adventures
• Glacier Flightseeing
• Macaulay Salmon Hatchery
• Glacier Gardens
• Dog Sledding
• Mount Roberts Tramway

I can remember seeing this island full of sunbathing Seals on sailing near to Juneau! They just look liked slugs all over the rocks but on closer inspection with binoculars obviously I could then see they were Seals not huge slugs! The picture is below as is did make me laugh seeing this spectacle.


Seal Island!



Stay tuned for my adventures to Skagway and Vancouver! COMING SOON!