The Journey to Juneau

On our last day in Skagway, I left John behind and boarded a high-speed catamaran and headed to Juneau (the land locked capital) 83 miles away. I wanted the Inside Passage experience and was able enjoy it on a small boat called the Fjord Express with Captain George. It was a picture perfect day with warm temperatures and calm seas.

On the way south, we hugged the shoreline where the mountains dropped directly into the water. Along the way we spotted eagles, porpoises, dolphins, and bears. The scenery was breathtaking. Once we arrived in Juneau, we had a bus tour of the city and then spent a few hours in the downtown area, having lunch (while watching the seaplanes take off and land) and shopping. Juneau is also a popular cruise ship port, so again there were many “boat people”. On the way back to the boat, we stopped at a salmon hatchery since the salmon are returning to spawn. When there are lots of salmon, there are lots of eagles and we saw hundreds of them.

On our return to Skagway, Captain George spent an hour or so in search of whales. The Humpbacks are here in Alaskan waters to feed and we saw five or six of them. After whale watching, we had to speed back to Skagway (a three hour trip) but we made brief stops to see a huge population of sea lions, a working lighthouse and the small, picturesque fishing village of Haines.