We've had another wonderful day.
I woke up first this morning and peered out the balcony door as the Island Princess was making her way up the Gastineau Channel on her approach to Juneau. The mountains rose up almost directly from the water on the side of the ship, and I could tell by watching the TV channel broadcasting the webcam view from the front of the ship that the other side was just as close to land.
As they did last evening, the clouds hung low over the mountains, and the fog, if not thick, was fairly heavy. The forecast for today had been a high of 60 degrees with a 90% chance of rain, so while I was disappointed with the weather, I wasn't surprised.
We had no schedule for today, and were not too hungry after our late dinner last night, so we were a bit slow to get moving. I had a bit of business to do (quickly, saving my laptop battery), so G headed out of the cabin in search of coffee. He phoned me (!) a little while later and said he had a table for two by the window in the Bordeaux Dining Room, and to join him when I was finished.
We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, content in the knowledge that, while others with early morning excursions were standing out in the fog on the pier, we could linger on the ship, watching the weather before finalizing our plans for the day.
With so many people off the ship, it was the perfect time for us to explore the very front and the very back of the ship. We have the inside of the ship pretty much figured out; the outer public decks were still a bit of a mystery. So we started with the very front of Baja Deck 11, walking through the unmarked doors to a narrow deck just below the bridge (on Aloha Deck 12). This would be a good spot for glacier viewing in Glacier Bay on Monday. We then made our way down to the same area on Caribe Deck 10, then walked to the back of the ship to check out the aft decks. Starting with Emerald Deck 8, we made our way deck by deck up the back of the ship. There are some nice viewing areas all the way up through Baja deck. I'm sure they get crowded during glacier and Panama Canal cruising, but we'll want to check them out.
By the time we got through all that exploring, we had walked quite a bit without ever leaving the ship. At about the same time, the fog began to lift and we saw a hint of sun making an appearance. Now this was a nice surprise!
We returned to our cabin and decided to pack up for a potential hike at Mendenhall glacier, weather permitting. And we finally left the ship about 10:30am, not exactly sure what the day would bring.
Photo 1: fog hanging low over the Gastineau Channel just south of Juneau
Photo 2: the Mt. Roberts tramway making its way into the fog
Photo 3: it was just after low tide. With wildly swinging tidal variations, the gangways were set off Deck 7 when we arrived, lowered to Deck 5 during the day, and raised again before we sailed this evening.
