Auke Bay, Juneau, and Orca Point Lodge - August 4

Auke Bay, Juneau, Orca Point Photos

Day 3 of the Cruise
We sailed from Glacier Bay and anchored in Auke Bay, a quiet, sheltered location where we spent the night. Our major destination for the next day was the state capitol, Juneau, which is not too far from Auke Bay. Our wake-up call for breakfast was to be 7:45 but a little before 7:00 the Captain announced over the intercom that we had humpback whales along our starboard side. Since that's the side our cabin was on we threw open the curtains and enjoyed the show. A great way to start the day. The whales stayed with us all through breakfast after which we took our leave to sail on to Juneau.

The Fairweather, a ferry of AK Maritime Highway System.

Leaving Auke Bay we got our first glimpse of the famous Mendenhall Glacier which is located east of Auke Bay, about 12 miles north of Juneau. We sailed around Douglas Island into Juneau harbor where we passed the Alaska Marine Highway system ferry, Fairweather. The ferries run year-round and are the primary method of transportation among the cities and villages of Southeast Alaska.

We disembarked and boarded a chartered bus that transported us to the Mendenhall Glacier where we spent the next several hours. The glacial ice flows some 13 miles from the 1500 mile Juneau Ice Field which feeds 38 glaciers. The ice takes between 200 and 250 years to flow to the glacier's face. The glacier was named for Thomas Corwin Mendenhall who served as Superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1889 to 1894. It takes about 100 feet of snowfall to make 1 foot of glacial ice.

Located near the glacier is Nugget falls. From the overlook to which we hiked we could see both but it was difficult to judge either the glacier's or the waterfall's scale. Fortunately, some of our fellow passengers undertook the 3-mile round trip hike to Nugget falls and we could see them (with the help of a 300 mm telephoto lens) at its base.

Closeup of the ice cave in the glacier's face.

We took one of the less challenging hikes along Mendenhall Lake and on the way out we encountered a porcupine having a nibble up a tree. Not wanting to get in the way of any flying quills, we observed from a respectful distance. We came upon some salmon heading upstream to spawn and downstream to escape from a bear who was feasting on the less wary. Alas, we didn't get to see the bear who had been spooked by gawkers before we could get to him. The scenery was worth the  trip, though.

Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls.

Nuggett Falls. Note the little specks at the base of the falls...those are some of our more intrepid fellow passengers.

Another interesting feature of the glacier is a large ice cave at water level in the glacier's face. Typically, glacier caves are formed by water flowing from the top of the ice field through a vertical opening called a moulin. These shafts can go all the way to the glacier's base or, more typically, terminate at a crevasse through which the water flows until it reaches the glacier's face.

Our outdoor appetites having been satisfied, we boarded the bus and headed back to the less bucolic atmosphere of the state capitol. This was one of the very few rainy days of our trip and Juneau was shrouded in fog. After a delicious lunch of halibut fish and chips, we took a soggy,leisurely stroll about downtown. Since the fog was so dense we opted not to take the aerial tram to the top of Mount Roberts. We did, however find a very nice little yarn shop; enjoyable but dangerous.

A pod of resident orcas on the way to Colt Island. Click on the button at the top of this post for more orca, and other, photos.

Once back aboard the Alaskan Dream we cruised to Colt Island, location of Orca Point Lodge. On the way we encountered a pod of resident orcas.  Resident orcas consume fish; transient orcas eat sea mammals.

The lodge is quite remote but very nice. It's owned by Allen Marine, the parent company of Alaskan Dream Cruises. This was our dinner destination and what a feed we had! All we could eat of monster-sized shrimp, loads of salad, and seemingly unlimited quantities of Alaskan king crab legs. Oh, yes, and barbecued ribs. It was very, very good and no-one left hungry.

The only reasonable thing to do afterwards was head for our stateroom for some full-tummy snoozing.

Next installment, our trip back north to Skagway, from there, via the White Pass & Yukon Railway, to Carcross, Yukon Territory, Canada, and back, then on to the fishing port of Haines.