Chasing Waterfalls – Day 8

This was our first port day, but we were not due to arrive in Juneau until the afternoon. Later on in the season, the port day in Juneau is combined with scenic cruising down Tracy Arm Fjord. Unfortunately, this early in the season, there is usually too much ice in Tracy Arm Fjord. Instead, we had essentially half a sea day.

They had a wildlife spotting event on the aft pool deck first thing that morning. We had set the alarm to go to this. I got waylaid on the way there. I mentioned before that to get to the aft pool; you had to go through the buffet. As I walked through, I spotted something that caught my eye. I have a guilty pleasure whenever I visit Hong Kong, and this is pineapple buns. They are sweet buns with a topping that is similar to the dough used for sugar cookies. They had something that looked very much like pineapple buns apart from that the topping came in various colours. I told Graham to go ahead, and I picked up one of them on the way. To my utter delight, it did taste like a pineapple bun.

I did join Graham after this. Dominic the wildlife guide was there and about a handful of other people. Unfortunately, it was raining heavily. That was not necessarily a problem as some of the pool deck is under cover. However, visibility was very limited. I think a bear or a moose a short distance away could have waved at us and we would not have seen it. We waited for a few minutes and then we gave up.

We decided to get some breakfast. This time round, we managed to get a table inside the buffet and things were not quite so manic. Graham started with fruit and yoghurt. I had some granola with sliced almonds and almond milk. This was delicious. Graham then had some oatmeal with brown sugar and dried fruit. I had some congee with beef, egg, and soy sauce. I also got us one of the pineapple buns each. Unfortunately, this turned out the only day they offered them. We decided to get some decent coffee and headed up to the Crow’s Nest. Graham had an Americano, and I had a caramel latte. The coffee was very nice.

Graham had seen something in the daily programme that had grabbed his attention. They had something called Polar Bear Plunge at the aft pool. He decided to check this out. I sent him ahead to sign up and quickly went back to the cabin. Our laundry had returned. I was impressed. The underwear and swimwear had been folded, wrapped in tissue paper, and put into a basket. Everything else was on hangers inside a garment bag. I filled the bag up again, filled out the form and handed it to our stateroom host. Then I headed back to the aft pool to join Graham. He was already in the pool and called out to me that it was lovely and warm. I decided to head back to the cabin yet again to get changed into my swimsuit.

 When I got back, they were just getting ready for the Polar Bear Plunge. Our entertainment host Claire asked everybody participating to line up around the edge of the pool. Her two assistants brought a bucket with ice cubes each and emptied them out into the pool. I don’t think this made any difference to the temperature of the water. I think the only thing chilly about this experience was standing by the pool waiting for everybody’s turn. Groups of four were asked to jump into the pool at any one time. Graham was in the second from last group.

 

Once the event was over, most people headed out. Graham stayed in the pool, and I went to join him. Prior to our Iceland trip, I would not have entertained this as the air temperature was in single figures. However, I learned in Iceland that if the water is warm enough, I can actually cope with getting out in cold temperature as long as I don’t hang about. The water was lovely. By that time, we were getting closer to Juneau and visibility had improved. It was amazing to enjoy the scenery while floating in a warm pool. After a while, we retired to the hot tub and carried on enjoying the view.

 

Once we were suitably waterlogged, we got out and dried off as much as we could. This was definitely one of the situations where I questioned the layout of the ship. It seemed strange to have to walk through the buffet to get from pool to literally anywhere else on the ship. Fortunately, we did not drip. Once we were back in our cabin, we took turns having a shower and get changed. Then we went to get some lunch. I had a glass of Coke and Graham had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Graham had some lasagne and bread. I had a made to order salad and made some loaded fries using some taco meat, grated cheese, and guacamole. Graham had some bread-and-butter pudding with custard for dessert.  I got a soft serve ice cream on the way out. The flavour of the day was chocolate.

We had docked while we were at lunch. After lunch, we headed to the cabin to get what we needed to our excursion. Then we headed downstairs. They had a photographer with a husky character out near the gangway. We stopped so that I could have a photo taken and then we headed out.

We had an excursion booked through Holland America that day. We had some shore excursion credit and only had to pay about £20 out of pocket. We had done the same excursion through Royal Caribbean in 2022. This combined a visit to Glacier Gardens with a visit to Mendenhall Glacier. We had unfinished business at Mendenhall Glacier, and this was the easiest and most cost-effective way to visit.

We went to the excursion check in and were told to come back in 20 minutes. Just as we walked away, the heavens opened. Fortunately, there was a gift shop nearby. I browsed for a bit while Graham found a seat on their covered deck. I did not find anything I wanted to buy, but at least we stayed dry. 

When it was time to check in, we headed back to excursion check in and they scanned to barcode on the app. We were directed to our bus and advised that our driver would be with us shortly. Things seemed a bit chaotic, but when our driver arrived, everyone boarded quickly.

Our driver told us that the weather would have improved by the time we got to the glacier. This made sense as the weather forecast suggested that things would improve during the second half of the afternoon. 

When we had done this tour in 2022, we did the Glacier Gardens first and then headed to Mendenhall Glacier. The tour through the rainforest at Glacier Gardens takes place in covered oversized golf carts and I figured it would not matter if it rained. However, we headed straight to Mendenhall Glacier. It turned out our driver was correct though. While we were driving through the town, it stopped raining. The clouds started to break when we drove past the airport. By the time we got to the drop off at Mendenhall Glacier, we had beautiful blue sky.

On the way to Mendenhall Glacier, our driver made some suggestions of what to do during our two hours at Mendenhall Glacier. We wanted to do the two-mile hike to Nugget Falls and back. Other options were a shorter hike to Photo Point, which we had done in 2022 and the Steep Creek Trail, which is a 0.5 miles trail over a boardwalk that is good for wildlife watching. He also recommended a visit to the visitor centre and encouraged us to look out for Romeo.

We headed past the visitor centre to get to the trail to Nugget Falls. Most of this goes through the rainforest. As we got closer to Nugget Falls, there was a clearing that offered some views over Mendenhall Glacier and also a smaller waterfall. Most of the trail was very easy. It was just the final stretch that was gravel path that was going downhill. We made pretty good progress, and the views of Nugget Falls were stunning. We soaked up the view for a bit and then we headed back towards the visitor centre.

When we got to the fork that either led to Photo point or to the visitor centre, we had a decision to make as we did not have time for both. I chose the visitor centre. I knew that they sell Glacier Smoothie soaps there and I wanted to bring some back for my colleague who was looking after my team. I also figured that this would provide a different kind of view. There is a lift that goes up there and I took some photos of the view. Then I got the soap that I was after. I would have loved some more time to explore the visitor centre a bit more, but that was not on the cards. We headed back downstairs. I still had enough time to take some photos on the way back to the bus stop and to use the bathroom before we had to be back on the bus. We definitely need one more visit to Mendenhall Glacier. I want to do the Photo Point trail again and also want to check out the Steep Creek Trail. The visitor centre also needs some time to properly check out what it has on offer. We need to do some research on this next year.

 

On the drive to Glacier Gardens, our driver asked us if we had seen Romeo. Romeo was a lone black wolve that appeared near Mendenhall Glacier in 2003 and was seeking contact with local dogs and their owners. As months turned into years, he befriended more and more local dogs and their human companions until he suddenly disappeared in 2009.

The community worked together to find him and ultimately, they found out that Romeo had been killed by poachers, There was a massive local outcry. Romeo had captured the hearts of the people of Juneau. There is even a book about him. Seven years later, he returned to the home where he lived and was dearly loved. When the poachers went to trial, part  of the court’s decision included the provision that Romeo’s hide be put on permanent loan to the U.S. Forest Service for the construction of an educational exhibit at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, featuring a world-class taxidermy mount of the wolf. Romeo’s story is both unspeakably sad and inspiring. If we do make it back to Mendenhall Glacier, I will make sure to check out the exhibit.

It did not take us long to get to Glacier Gardens. When we arrived there, our driver told us to stay seated as somebody from Glacier Gardens would join us shortly. He also told us that once we came back from the tour, to proceed to the visitor centre and to stay there until he called us. Our host arrived soon afterwards and after she gave us a quick overview of what we were about to see, she escorted us the short distance up to the loading area for the golf carts. We ended up on the first group.

When we had been there in 2022, I was utterly fascinated by the Flower Towers. The Flower Towers are upended trees where the root structure forms planters. In 2022, we were there about a month later and the Flower Towers were in full bloom. This time round only a single Flower Tower had been planted. This was about halfway up the mountain and unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the golf cart to get a photo. Our driver guide was passionate about his job and very informative. However, we had heard most of the information on our previous visit. The Tongass rainforest is beautiful, but there are only so many Western Hemlocks and Sitka Spruce you need to see. It was definitely not the same without the colourful Flower Towers. I think if this had been our first visit, we would have thoroughly enjoyed it, but having seen previously how pretty it can be, it kind of fell flat. We stopped briefly at an overlook at the top of the mountain so that we could enjoy the view and take some photos. Then we headed back down.

When we got back to the loading area, we were directed to the visitor centre. The visitor centre is a greenhouse that has been repurposed. There is a coffee shop on one end and a gift shop at the other. The middle is taken up with some seating, a display about the history of Glacier Gardens and a screen that shows footage from the bald eagle cam that is on the property. I had a look around the gift shop. They had some nice stuff, but I was not tempted to buy anything. Then I watched the eagle cam for a while. After what felt like forever, our driver called us, and we headed back to the bus.

 

On the way back from Glacier Gardens, our driver asked us if we wanted to see a whale or the pelican statue outside the federal building. I was fascinated by the idea of the pelican statue, but the majority was for the whale. Our driver took us out on the Juneau-Douglas Bridge and pointed out the whale. It turned out to be a bronze statue of jumping humpback whale. It was pretty cool to see though.

We did get to see the pelican statue, too. This was commissioned as part of the Fine Arts in New Federal Buildings Program and was created by the artist Thomas Hardy. A local legend states that the original statue that was commissioned was of Alaska’s state bird, the bald eagle. At the same time another statue was commissioned from the same artist for a federal building in Florida which was of a group of diving pelicans. According to the legend, there was a mix up with shipping and Florida ended up with the eagle and Juneau with the pelicans. There are different versions of how the pelicans ultimately were installed in Juneau. The story our driver told us was that the people near the federal building in Florida had fallen in love with the eagle statue and refused to give it up. I have found different explanation online that the shipping cost to swap the statues was prohibitively expensive and it was decided that the statues should stay where they are. As plausible as the story sounds, it is actually an urban legend, but it makes a good story. 

After this little detour, we headed back to the port. We tipped our driver and then we went straight on board. We went back to the cabin to drop off our stuff and I got a changed. Then we headed for dinner at the buffet. Graham had some fish and chips which he said was very nice. I had some Mexican food in honour of Cinco de Mayo. They had some beef enchiladas, chicken flautas and some spice rubbed tenderloin, which was all very nice. 

After dinner, we headed to the panorama bar. I had a couple of melon margaritas, and Graham had a couple of local IPAs. On the way to the cabin, Graham took some photos of me and my outfit of the day. They had set up a tent near the pool earlier in the day and this was used for some event for the kids’ club that evening. I figured this made an interesting backdrop. We then headed back to the cabin and got ready for bed. Before we settled down, we set an alarm for 23:00.

 

Our driver had told us that there was a good chance to see the northern lights that day. He told us that the peak window of opportunity was around 23:00. We decided to check this out. We got up, dressed and then headed to the back pool. We should have left at 22:00, but we were still docked. There was a lot of light and even if the northern lights were there, we had no chance of seeing them. We headed back to the cabin, and it take not long until we were fast asleep again.