It's been a busy couple of days. Yesterday we docked at Icy Strait Point. Icy Strait is an area that used to be a fishery that has been set up now specifically for cruise ships to stop by. The top photo in this post is a picture from there on the beach. We did a short nature trail and wandered through the woods. Then we walked about a mile and a half to Hoonah, the nearest village to Icy Strait. There's not much to Hoonah but it was a very nice stroll along the water to the village. And, as we were told, it would probably be the most real place that we would see on our cruise.
This morning we docked early in Juneau, the state capital of Alaska.We took the Mt. Robert Tram up to a point looking out over Juneau and the islands beyond. On the tram we saw two eagles, so far the only wildlife I've seen except for the salmon in Ketchikan and a few banana slugs, which hardly count. We had a marvelous view from the top of Mt. Robert and the tram ride was fun. We had a few more hours after the tram ride until our ship departed, so we wandered around Juneau, at least in the tourist area near where the ships dock. Juneau has a population of only about 33,000. And it is isolated... accessible only by air and water.
We left Juneau early in the afternoon to sail up to Tracy Arm Fjord. In fact, as I write, we are cruising out of the fjord. We sailed up into the fjord over about 2 hours....2 rather cold hours out on the top deck of the ship. But well worth every chilly moment. This is a beautiful spot and the weather cooperated tremendously. Usually, we're told, it's rainy and unpleasant. But today was sunny and beautiful. The 2nd picture in this post is from Tracy Arm Fjord. It was carved by glaciers hundreds of thousands years ago. And it is gorgeous. The rock walls climb up a thousand feet on either side and the water is a beautiful blue-green. Waterfalls flow down from the top and occasionally, through a deep valley, you can spot a glacier. As I wrote, we shivered our way up into the fjord spotting small icebergs along the way. Truly an amazing afternoon.
Tomorrow we stop in Skagway, our last port in Alaska.
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