we prebooked excursions at every port. i know that many cruise veterans will tell you to save money by booking once your off the ship, but, for me, i couldn't risk missing out on what was important to me.
in juneau i booked a full day photography safari of mendenhall glacier, tongass forest and a whale watching cruise.
one of the reasons i chose this trip was the small group size. several years back, in iceland, i took a large group whale watching cruise and was unable to see the one whale sighting we had because i was on the wrong side of the boat and blocked by a hundred other people.
we started in the forest. i was using my dslr and my ollo clip lenses for my iphone.
here are some of my favorite shots from the largest national forest in the us.
a quick stop to check out mendenhall glacier. the area was beautiful, but after the hubbard glacier, the portion of this glacier we were able to see seemed quite small. perhaps next time i can trek on one of the glaciers.
the last couple hours of the day were spent whale watching.
this had been my ultimate dream: to see whales in person.
i've been a lifetime whale lover, but had never seen more than what's to be found on tv and in movies.
we headed out in search of humpbacks, but first we found orcas- and i was thrilled. i don't even think i realized this was a species we might see in alaska. but we came upon this pod and they swam around the couple of boats that were lingering nearby.
there are restrictions on how close the boats can get to the whales, but if the whales come to you there's not much you can do.
except enjoy it!
i didn't get too many great pics of the orcas, but i loved seeing them!
after the orcas, we went searching for humpbacks in the area and found a female that's been known to be in the area on a regular basis. we could identify her by the details of her tail as the whale 'barnacles'.
we followed her around a bit and were keeping our distance.
until she emerged on the right side of the boat and surprised us and breaching practically on top of the boat. the captain and the guide had never experienced anything like it, so it was amazing to witness it!
of course we were all too stunned to get pictures of that!
have you had any great whale watching experiences? more to come in another alaska post soon since we went whale watching as a family later in the week!
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