A Boat Trip to Juneau
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We were up early and quite excited to visit Alaska’s state capital city, Juneau. Only accessible via water or air, Juneau is a hard to get to place, so we were doubly pleased to have the opportunity to visit. As we waited at the dock for the Fjordland Express to arrive at the Haines small boat harbor, we were pleased to see only about 10-15 people waiting to board with us. When the boat arrived, already full of passengers who had boarded in Skagway, we were, to say the least, disappointed. There were barely enough seats and none were in prime spots near the windows. Grrr!
Part of the appeal of this boat trip was the opportunity to see wildlife in the Prince of William Sound en route to Juneau. The captain was quite good at stopping for and providing commentary on interesting sights and wildlife viewing, like when the boat passed by a Steller sea lion rookery…
… the Davidson Glacier
… and the Eldred Island Lighthouse.
Unfortunately, most of our views looked more like this and we had to elbow our way past other passengers who were elbowing their way past us to a spot that allowed a view.
We watched as the Alaska Marine Highway ferry passed by and wondered if that would have been a better option. As it turned out, the Fjordland Express was the best option this time.
We did see several humpback whale spouts… no breaching, but a few views that confirmed they were indeed humpbacks and David managed a tail shot, too.
The best photo was more accidental, but definitely fortuitous. David had his phone and captured an eagle just taking wing from a channel marker. Our best shot of the day.
We arrived at busy Aukes Bay Harbor where a bus met us to transport us ~12 miles/20 minutes to downtown Juneau. By the time we were dropped off the downtown Marine Park, we had only about 3-1/2 hours in which to explore Juneau. Definitely, a challenge! We were blessed to have a rare warm sunny day in Juneau. In fact, it was downright hot by mid-afternoon and people were shedding layers as they walked.
David had researched the high points we wanted to visit while in the city, but with limited time, we knew that we’d have to modify our expectations. As the crowd headed toward sights in the city, we headed off to find Tahku, the Alaska whale sculpture. It was a brisk 20-minute walk away from town and we willed our feet to go faster… every minute counted and for us slow travelers, rushing is an execrable experience.
We didn’t get far, however, when we spotted Tracy’s Crab Shack, another ‘to do’ on the list. This location was the ‘shack’ and not the downtown restaurant and it suited us just fine. The cup of crab bisque was awesome and a great little appetizer. There were no lines and the service was fast. Go ahead… click on the thumbnails to enlarge them if you wish.
Back on track, we finally found Takhu. A life-size bronze sculpture of a breaching humpback, Takhu was created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Alaska’s statehood (1959-2019). The whale rises majestically from the infinity pool in which he’s captive with water splashing and spouting all about. Worth the walk.
We took a different route back into town. On our list was the state capitol building which offered free tours. Though large, it’s a pretty non-descript building and time did not allow a tour.
Nearby, we said a quick hello to William Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State who was responsible for the negotiations and purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867 … about 2 cents per acre. Pretty good land deal.
We had also hoped to visit the Douglas-Juneau City Museum, but that, too, was unrealistic with the amount of time we had available. The clock was ticking.
We did take the time to find and visit St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church. This landmark is located in an unlikely neighborhood setting several blocks from downtown and we had the whole place to ourselves. Founded in 1893 at the request of the local Tlingit community, the church was constructed by the Tlingit people and Serbian miners utilizing plans and money sent from Russia. The church has been active ever since.
In front of the church was a memorial plaque to hundreds of Aleut Americans who had been forcibly removed from their homes during WWII, transported to horrendous camps in Southeast Alaska, and interred in unsanitary, inhumane conditions for the duration of the war. Over 10% of the men, women, and children incarcerated died in these miserable conditions. These people posed no threat to national security… their only crime? Being in their Aleutian homes during wartime. Were you aware of this before? We’d certainly heard the horror stories of Japanese-American citizens that had been interred during the war, but never heard of this atrocity before, so we researched it. Sadly, it’s true. We wondered again how our government could have done such a thing to its own citizens.
By the time we were back to the downtown area, five cruise ships had arrived and spewed out their passengers including the 5,000 passenger Quantum Seas which appeared to tower above most of the buildings in the downtown area. Juneau’s population is ~34,000 people and they receive over a million visitors each year… mostly at this time of year. We figured most of the million were in town today. Funny, how we always think of others as ‘tourists’, but not ourselves.
There were long lines everywhere. Restaurants were overwhelmed. The line for the Mount Roberts Tramway stretched halfway down the wharf and at $48/pp, we probably would have given it a pass even if we could have gotten on. Souvenir shops were doing a brisk business, cruise ship passengers bustling about with bags and bags of Juneau t-shirts, caps, masks, totems and ulu knives.
We tried to get into the iconic Red Dog Saloon, but there was no way.
Our original plan was to sample food and drink at several different places throughout our visit, but it just wasn’t feasible. We settled instead for the Devil’s Club Brewery which seemed to be frequented more by locals than tourists and served up a great lunch and tasty draft beers. No wait required.
With minimal time left, we walked along the wharf and the boardwalk, avoiding the hordes of passengers waiting in line for shore excursions and trips to Mendenhall Glacier. They, too, were on a limited schedule.
We were back to the bus with 10 minutes to spare and back on the boat by 4:20pm. We were lucky enough to get window seats on the return trip and much better views of Prince William Sound. As a bonus, a cup of smoked salmon and corn chowder was served that was ‘knock-your-socks-off’ delicious and topped off the day.
Blanche was waiting at the harbor when we offloaded in Haines after a very long day. We drove about 40 miles out of town on the Haines Highway and pulled into a turnout along the Chilkat River for the night.
Our thoughts on Juneau… it’s probably an awesome city… just not today. It was too crowded. Regarding the boat trip, we were too rushed and the boat ride was just not our kind of excursion. I think I’d like to visit again someday maybe in the off-season and with Blanche so we could get to the Mendenhall Glacier, maybe camp somewhere away from the city and tour at our leisure.
Next time, we’re off to Valdez on the Prince William Sound. Bring your rain gear and some warm clothes!