We got up a bit early so we could try to spot whales before taking our excursion up Tracy Arm to Sawyer Glacier. It was raining lightly but we saw several distant whale spouts and a nearby seal, then a couple humpback whales appeared right near the ship.
We boarded a speedy catamaran (https://allenmarinetours.com/juneau/glacier-fjord/) to take us to Tracy Arm.
We stopped near the entrance to the arm because there were a few more humpback whales, some porpoises, and several orcas there. They were all traveling around so we got decent views of them, but no real close views. The rain stopped, but it remained cloudy.
We entered Tracy Arm and spotted several bald eagles in the trees. As the fjord narrowed we began to see more icebergs between the steep canyon walls. We stopped near a waterfall and the captain showed off his maneuvering skills by putting first one side of the boat, then the other less than two feet from the rocks.
A ways further in we found a male orca, a female, and a calf. We got very close to them, close enough to smell their fishy breath.
We were unable to go to the larger outlet of the glacier (South Sawyer Glacier) because there were so many icebergs in the fjord leading to it.
Then we arrived at the face of the Sawyer glacier and spent a while marveling at the sight. The sun even nearly broke through the clouds for a little while, making for better photos.
The crew scooped up a chunk of ice for us to see up close, and another with which they made “glacieritas”. My sister-in-law bought one for us.
Then we had to go catch up to the Volendam at Juneau. We arrived at the dock around 3PM. We dropped off some stuff and grabbed a snack, then walked around Juneau for a while.
I bought a nice shirt at the Alaskan Brewing Depot and we picked up some bug spray [pleasant surprise, so far it has not been needed]. It seemed like nearly half of the shops in Juneau’s ‘tourist strip’ are jewelry stores, which seems a bit unreasonable. Apparently the cruise companies own many of them.
We had dinner on the ship, and then went to the ship’s theater to watch Nathan Phan present a really impressive magic show.