Tuesday July 27th 2010 to Juneau then Sitka

It was cold during the night, I had to get up and find an extra blanket. I awoke when we were still in Juneau, so as it was daylight went to see the terminal. It is interesting that most of the ferry terminals are away from the city they service yet the cruise liner docks are in town. Not much to see for Juneau, but the city can be seen in the distance, and the Mendenhall Glacier is quite visible.

Juneau:

Tent City:

The day started a bit cloudy, but turned into another sunny day, it being quite hot in Sitka. One advantage of being on the ferry sailing the Inland Passage, is that the ferry is a lot smaller and has far less draft than the cruise liners, so it goes into the narrow channels, and closer to land. Case in point is our journey to Sitka, the liners take to the ocean, we took the narrow passages. And narrow they were at times, so close you felt you could touch the shore, less than 40 yards I am sure. An example of this was the Peril Strait between Baronof and Chichagof Islands. When we left Sitka, we backtracked the same path until we hit Chatham Strait again.

En route to Sitka:

Today was good for wildlife. We had a few humpback whales with their calves, eagles, and a brown bear. Later we had dolphins and sea lions.

Wildlife:

Sitka was fairly interesting. Like all the places one visits that has a large cruise liner traffic, it has many stores that sell tourist stuff, and some with high end (expensive) ceramics, jewelry, and glassware. Two liners were in to-day, one from Holland America, the other our friend Radiance of the Seas, it had left Skagway yesterday evening. Some Russian influence is still there, namely the St. Michael’s Cathedral. We did have shuttle buses into town and back.

Sitka:

One starts to feel like being on a cruise liner, except there is a feeling of a closer knit community. People actually talk to each other, and smile and say good morning. It is an interesting mix. Many bike riders, the young people tend to be the outdoor types, and there is a large contingent of older, read retired, people. Bodies can be found sleeping everywhere.

Sunset: