8:30am Alaska Time (GMT – 9:00) – We wake up and get ready for the day. Finally we get to set foot on land again! We head to the Windjammer to grab some breakfast which consists of the always popular pancakes, eggs, bacon, and juice. We enjoy our food and conversation as we try to decide what to do for the morning until we reach Juneau which should happen around 11:00am. The skies are a little cloudy and the air is chilly, but manageable as long as there is something to keep the wind off of us. After finishing breakfast we begin walking around the ship and make our way to the Solarium at the back of the ship. It feels great in here, but once we have warmed our hands we head back out to the top deck at the aft of the ship. We eventually find a nice warm spot to hangout as we pass the engine room exhaust which has wonderful warm air pouring out keeping us nice and warm as we snap many photos of the picturesque mountains on either side of the ship as we make our way to port. 10:00am – Still standing in our comfortable, warm spot, we hear the announcement that the rock climbing wall is now open which is at the very back of the ship, just a few paces from where we are standing. After some persuasion, Colleen agrees to give it a shot with me. Neither one of us has ever tried this before so we are a little nervous, not to mention the wall in only 20 yards or so from the railing on the back of the ship!
We sign our waiver forms, and are second and third in line. The lady going first is with her family. She watched her daughters try it earlier in the week and has decided she will give it a go too. They are very nice folks from Schaumburg, Illinois and we enjoy our conversation with them while we wait our turn to climb. Once the lady has made it to the top even with struggling and taking a break for a few minutes, Colleen is up next. I have no idea what to expect from her especially considering her fear of heights, but once she starts climbing, she looks like an old pro as she scales the wall in just a couple of minutes. I am very impressed with my wife’s athletic ability and determination, but those are two of her traits I fell in love with so I am not surprised. Now it is my turn, and you can bet I don’t want to fail or take longer to scale than my wife! I am still a little nervous, but I do eventually reach the bell at the top and with a sense of relief rappel down to the padded deck below. What a rewarding experience as we are very proud of ourselves and we get a wonderful view from the top of the ship! 
10:30am – Back in the room, we prepare our coupons and map out our shopping trip. We are already regretting signing up for this because now we feel obliged to get all the free stuff possible to make up for the $25 we spent to pick up the book. We head down to the second floor, as far down as we can go, to disembark as early as possible. Just before 11:00, the doors are opened and we make our way off of the ship and onto the bus headed into town. Juneau look absolutely beautiful and the buildings in town look well maintained, although it isn’t difficult to imagine how they afford the upkeep with the overpriced items being sold around town, especially the jewelry stores. We make our way through the shops picking up all the free items we can with our coupons and find a nice looking earring and pendant set for Colleen at one of the stores. Once we have exhausted all coupons we still have time to head back to the ship, eat at the Windjammer, and head back to the pier for our first excursion, sea kayaking!
12:30pm – We head back out to pier and wait until 1:15 for the bus for kayaking to arrive.
We load up and sit behind a very friendly couple, Jack and Barb, from New York but have now retired to a community near Hilton Head, SC. We visit with them on the bus ride to Douglas Island which carries us across the only bridge in Juneau where we stop for a photo shot opportunity of the town across the harbor. Jack offers to take our picture with our camera and we return the favor by taking a picture of them with their camera. We load back up on the bus continuing pleasant conversation as we make our way to the beach where we will be kayaking. By this time, the sun has been out for most of the morning and afternoon and the temperature is in the mid to upper 60’s, what a beautiful day! We unload from the bus and begin changing into an array of water protective clothing.
We have rubber overalls and boots, a kayak skirt, rain jacket and life preserver. By the time we have everything on we are quite warm and ready to get out on the water. We each grab our oars we will be using for the day and take a short walk to the beach where the kayaks are sitting. There are three group leaders and another young man who will be in a small motorized boat who will be following everyone in case of a tip. After a quick lesson about how to paddle and steer, we are asked to form groups with people we would like to group with. Colleen and I are standing near Jack and Bard so we stand in a group of four which then becomes a group of eight. The math works out nicely as there are 24 people or 12 kayaks and three leaders and our group of four kayaks is assigned to a young man named Evan. Evan has just graduated high school and is a Juneau native. He is well versed is Juneau history and geography and proves to be a wonderful guide as we kayak through the bay which is part of the Pacific Ocean. Right as we begin entering the water, Evan points out a marker about ¾ of a mile away we are supposed to row to and regroup there. The marker takes us directly toward the Mendenhall Glacier which is a flowing riverbed glacier which is the largest type of glacier. He also points out that a Bald Eagle is perched atop that marker. We all hope out loud that the eagle is still there when we reach the point. As Colleen and I begin to row, we are going to the left which is not the correct direction if we want to make it to the checkpoint. We do our best to steer back towards the marker and eventually we make it. The eagle has flown away well before we arrive, but we sit and visit with Jack and Barb and another nice couple from Houston while we wait for Evan and our fourth kayak. They are a father/daughter combo and had to turn back because their kayak was spinning in circles and needed the rudder to be put in the water before they could steer properly. Once they arrive with Evan, we sit and learn about the area and our view for 10-15 minutes. While we are there we see a few Bald Eagles flying around the area. They are absolutely beautiful so Colleen digs through her layers of gear to find our camera to snap a few photos. While she has the camera out, we are lucky enough to witness one hunt for a fish. It looks at first as if this eagle is going to fly directly over our heads, but 50 yards or so before it reaches us it swoops down and plucks a nice sized fish out of the water. What a stunning sight this was and, according to Evan, a rarity. He tells us that typically the eagles don’t hunt that close to people and often just swoop down to fool younger eagles into capturing the fish, then attacking and stealing the fish from the youthful bird. Colleen is able to capture a few pictures of the eagles in the area before we are instructed to drop our paddles back in the water and head around a glacier silt bar to the end of the peninsula on the other side. As we work our way around the sand/silt bar, a couple of seals pop their heads out of the water curiously watching us flounder our way through the water. We can only see the heads of the seals, but we are very excited about our first up close viewing of marine life.
We finally make our way around to our targeted destination, probably another ¾ of a mile from where we took our last break, and again Evan goes into another Q & A session with us, again pointing out different islands, coves and landmarks while giving the background story of each. As our dialogue continues, another seal, which is closer to us than any of the previous ones we saw, pops his head up and looks to be circling toward us. His head goes back below water and sure enough, the guy pops his head back out about 10 yards from our group. “Wow, that is the closest I seen a seal come to a group!” says Evan. We are all very excited for the few seconds we get to see it. Everyone reaches for their cameras, but I think he made it back under water before anyone is able to take a picture. As we all express our excitement about seeing this fascinating animal, he pops up again; this time even closer! He is literally right behind our kayak so close that I could reach him with my paddle if I wanted to. Again, we are not able to capture a picture, but he is close enough to me that I can see the top part of his body through the silt filled water which is not very transparent at all. Our group begins babbling on like we are five year olds at a zoo or circus for the first time with the excitement of our close encounter! After waiting for the seal to surface again, which he eventually does but much farther away, we are instructed to head back to the beach where we picked up our kayaks. Evan tells us it is about a mile from where we are sitting, and we are going to have to deal with the current pushing us to the right as we go in so we dig our paddles into the water and head toward shore. We start off pretty quickly and are making good time, but nearly half way back we start running low on energy and slow our pace. We end up paddling in side by side with Jack and Barb as we get to the shore, and talk back and forth with the wonderful couple from South Carolina about how wonderful the experience has been as we walk back to the trailer to change out of our layers of rain/water gear.
After discarding the equipment, we enjoy a selection of moose sausage and crackers with a salmon dip. Following the high energy two hours we have just spent rowing around, we are all ready for a snack as the food disappears in a hurry! We jump back on the bus after thanking Evan for his brilliant effort guiding us during the excursion and head back toward the town of Juneau. A few people elect to stop back in town before making their way back to the ship. Jack, Barb, Colleen and I are tuckered out though so we stay on the bus which drops us off right at the pier. There is a bit of a line to get back on the ship via the gangway, but it works out perfectly as we are able to enjoy even more stimulating conversation with Jack and Barb. They are such a sweet couple and we enjoy hearing stories about their family and lives during and pre-retirement. Both Colleen and I smile ear to ear the entire time. Once we are back on the ship, we all take the elevator to our stateroom deck 8 which happens to be their deck as well before parting ways. Both couples vow to exchange email addresses before the end of the cruise so we can exchange pictures from the absolutely incredible excursion we have shared. Colleen and I walk down the hall and crash into bed for a nap.
7:00pm – We wake from our nap to shower and change clothes for tonight’s dinner. We are still pretty tired and upon arriving at dinner find the other three couples are also looking pretty tired from their excursions. Graham and Shasta went zip lining, Sean and Dawn had been whale watching, while Andy and Lisa had taken a helicopter to Mendenhall Glacier and visited a sled dog camp. Our wait staff, Jessie and Arnold can tell we are all very tired as they ask us each about our day. For dinner, Colleen and I both order the smoked salmon pasta which sounds like a terrific option. Once the dish comes out though, we are a little disappointed as there are only a few slivers of salmon on a pretty small portion of pasta. The taste is still nice, but the portion is unlike the large, over filling portions we have enjoyed thus far. For dessert we each enjoy a brownie and head back to our room to watch a movie and get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow we have another full day of shopping and an excursion to a Mush and Sled dog Camp in Skagway, AK.
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