Day 30 – Taku Harbor to Juneau

This morning as we are all sitting around chatting and drinking coffee, the little humpback whale made another appearance INSIDE the harbor right off the side of our boat – within 50 feet! He continued on across the bay where he surfed right on the shoreline, we couldn’t figure out how he could even get that close. He stayed for about 20 minutes then went down and never came back up. Juneau is only 20 miles away so it was an easy morning. Picked up 400 gallons of fuel from Crowley Fuel before dodging cruise ships (there are 5 here today) to get to our slip. We were assigned the Intermediate Vessel Float for our moorage which is sandwiched in behind all the cruise ship docks. Spent the afternoon on a mad tear to re‑provision for the next 10 days as we leave here on the 13th and won’t be back until the 23rd, and we will be adding 4 guests for a week on the 16th, John’s parents and daughter Jennifer and her fiancé Spencer. We rented a car so that we could hit Costco, Safeway and the laundromat so that tomorrow we can play tourist. Like I said there are 5 cruise ships in town and it’s a madhouse here during the day, people everywhere. The sheer amount of gift shops that were bustling with people buying every kind of logoed item you could imagine, was mind boggling. Anyway, the crowds dissipate in the late afternoon as the cruise ships load everyone up again and prepare for departure so we had a pleasant walk through the shopping district on our way to dinner at the historic Hangar on the Wharf pub and grill. The Hangar served as an aircraft hangar for many of the float plane operators that flew in and out of Juneau starting in the 40’s. The Hangar was where they came to refuel, wash the planes, and do repairs, and eventually those pilots merged together to form Alaska Airlines. During dinner the seaplanes were on constant rotation on the docks below the restaurant, taking all the cruise ship tourists on their tours. After dinner, we stopped in for an after dinner nip at the famous Red Dog Saloon because when in Juneau, one just has to step inside to experience. The Red Dog has been in existence since the gold rush days and Wyatt Earp reportedly checked his gun at the door then forgot to retrieve it in 1900, so it’s on display along with a plethora of assorted taxidermy. Shannon set our schedule for tomorrow starting at 7:30am with a trip to Starbucks, followed by the Mendenhall Glacier, the Juneau Museum, and maybe a tram ride if it’s not too crowded. All the ships pulled out tonight but I am guessing a new batch arrive tomorrow.