JUNE 15, 16 and 17.

JUNE 15, Thursday.

We left Tracy Arm Bay with the intention to go to Taku Bay, but when we got there it was grey and wet. We floated around in the bay for a while, took some pictures of Tiger Olsen’s old cabin, 2 fishing boat on the dock and decided to carry on to Auke Bay, north of Juneau. Tiger Olsen was a famous Alaskan, spending his time in Taku Bay prospecting, hunting, fishing and welcoming visitors. They left his cabin, named it in his honour and people can overnight in it.

Six hours later we arrived in Auke Bay Marina. We had called Jim Randle’s step brother, Mik Ewing and he gave us some good advice as where to go and which areas to watch out for strong currents. He apologized not knowing we were coming or he would have arranged for a car for us. That was very kind of him, but it turned out, we were fine without a car. The approach to the harbour was impressive, with the Mendenhall glacier towering over the landscape.

Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau.

Right after we had tieded up the lines on the dock we went up to the harbour office. A nice fellow there said the office was closed and if we wanted a good dinner and liked Thai food, there was a restaurant right at the top of the road. We had a tasty Pad Thai dinner there indeed. Highly recommended. There was a lady there who looked familiar and just before she left I approached her and asked if she was from Victoria. Turned out she was Mikaela from Seattle, we knew from Eckankar, a long time ago. She was visiting her son, Solen, her daughter and her grand children. Her husband used to be John Jensen, the Madhis from Alaska.

JUNE 16, Friday.

After a long walk on the dock and up the road to a bus stop at the University of Alaska Southeast, UAS,  we ended up taken the bus to downtown Juneau. It was $2.00 p.p. for a half hour bus ride. When we got off the bus we asked a construction worker where a good place for breakfast was and he send us to the ‘Sandpiper’. It was an excellent place indeed, a favorite of the locals, plus, added bonus, it had wifi.

French toast with Marscapone filling, pineapples and cream.  I ate it ALL!

I was surprised to learn that Juneau is the capital of Alaska since 1906, not Anchorage or Fairbanks, as I might have guessed. It was named after Joe Juneau, a French Canadian prospector, who was told in 1880 by a local inhabitant, Chief Kowee,  that there was gold in this creek, which has since been named Gold Creek.

 

 

Gold Creek  running into juneau, past one of the many government buildings there.

Afterwards we walked to the cruise dock and saw the ‘Volendam’ dock.  We have seen many ‘dam’ ships on this trip from the Holland America line in different locations: the Nieuw Amsterdam, Zaandam, Noordam and the Eurodam.

It is always amazing to see these monster boats up close.

These booths open only when a cruise ship is in town to sell all the different tours to the cruise passengers.

We visited the downtown area occupied by tourist stores and took a picture at the famous Red Dog Saloon, founded during the Gold Rush era, and a jewelry, tourist trap store, where you could guess the weight of a gold nugget for a prize. Vaughan guessed wrong. No prize for us.

We walked by Tracy’s King Crab Shack, which made Vaughan’s mouth water again, but he resisted and we walked on.

 

On the bus back Vaughan was speaking to a lovely older First Nations lady, whose family was from the Aleutian islands. He told her that we were on our way to Safeway for some shopping, but she recommended that we go to Fred Meyers, it was closer to a bus stop and a lot less expensive. So, we did, and she was right.  Later we took two buses back to the marina. That evening a huge private motor yacht came in. ‘Cloudbreak’. Lots of excitement on the dock by locals coming to have a look/see at the 72 meter. 238 feet, super yacht.

I took this picture when Cloudbreak entered Auke Bay, north of Juneau.  http://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/editorial-features/cloudbreak-the-explorer-yacht-designed-to-take-on-the-world–31427

JUNE 17, Saturday.

Time to go to Hoonah. It was a choppy and cold ride across Lynn Channel and Icy Straight. Winds up to 25 knots on the nose of course. It took us about 7 hours to get to Hoonah, after leaving Auke Bay.

The red buildings are the Icy Strait Point Cannery. The whole point is a privately owned tourist destination just outside the small village of Hoonah, Alaska. located on Chichagof Island.

We were welcomed in Hoonah Harbour by a friendly Harbour master assistant, Bill. He informed us proudly, after we told him that we were heading for Glacier Bay, that his people were from there originally. Which is true, in about 1760 there was a ‘little ice-age’ and the glaciers advanced so much that they destroyed the Tlingit village, which had been there for centuries.

Bill, the friendly, Tlingit, Harbour master assistant, in front of ”Tango’, Suzie and Ron’s boat, docked next to us.

Just last year there was an official ceremony for the opening of the Huna Tribal House re-build in Bartlett Cove, inside the park. There was a lot of tension for many years between the park branch and the Tlingit people, because the latter used Glacier Bay to collect eggs, berries and hunt for centuries. Since the park took over they were not allowed to do that anymore. Just recently the Tlingit people seem to be given some rights back for food collection in this area. For more information and excellent pictues see:

https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/historyculture/huna-tribal-house-project.htm

We can see this from our boat. today, June 24. We might go visit this today, while we are in Bartlett sound.

We ended up docking right next to Ron and Suzie on ‘Tango’. We walked into this small little town that has the largest Tlingit community in Alaska. We looked, once again, for a a hardware store. Vaughan needed some stuff for the boat and I needed a new tap, because my tap in the galley had recently broken.

There were totem poles and painted benches everywhere.

I forgot to take pictures of the totem poles.

That evening we were invited on Tango, to watch some pictures of Humpback whales Bubble feeding, which they had recently experienced in Icy Strait. Larry and Karen were there as well, from their buddy boat ‘Panta Rhei’. They had been cruising through the Pacific for 7 years. Check out this great Youtube video of whales bubble feeding:

We were surrounded by the cries of eagles all evening. Four to six at a time would sit at the breakwater, or perch on top of masts in the harbour, watching us.