Sunday 19th May - Day three- Juneau and whale watching.

Woke at 4 and was having tea on deck 10 by 415  journaling yesterday and enjoying the morning even though is was a little grey and misty.

   Dorothy came around 630 and we went up to the cosmo lounge and sat and listened to Dirk talk about the area that we were in/going through. He is our good looking shipboard naturalist announcer of interest. While there we met Dave, the retired english bobby from just outside London. He told us his tale of woe which was possibly more horrendous than our own.

When we were getting to the port yesterday there was a sign separating the US and Canada Passport holders from the international and Visa holders. We Canadians and US went into our very long line and they went into another, we thought. Turned out that they went into a room where they were seated and waited for up to 3 hours until we were all processed and then they formed up into their queues and went through the boarding process that we had gone through, which took hours more and because there was not really anyone there controlling the lines, there were line jumpers, sometimes through no fault of their own, which caused many bad feelings amongst those in the lines. The ship had left two hours late as the boarding process had been so long and now we knew who were the last people on board. 

Dorothy was ashamed for the port authority and apologized for the terrible process that Dave  and his wife and all the international people had to go through. I was shocked and dismayed that thier boarding process was even worse than our own. Dave told us of other cruises he had been on and how smoothly they went. Dorothy and I of course never having cruised before had no idea that is was not always like that.

  Dirk told us, everyone that was sitting up in the Cosmo lounge that when we went around a bend we would be able to see a glacier just for a moment off to the right. Dave, Dorothy and I went out at what seemed the appropriate time to get a photo of said glacier and almost missed it as we were looking the wrong direction. But at the last moment by luck we spotted it and got a lovely shot of it. 

Pauline and Dave(?)were also going on the whale watching tour that day and gave us gloves and myself a sweater to wear on the tour. It was a little grey and rainy and windy and cool so I appreciated it very much.

We went to check on D and S. They were up and gone for breakfast. While I was in the stateroom the phone rang and it was the concierge, Mateau,  letting us know that we would in fact, not be getting our luggage in either Juneau or Skagway but rather in Ketchikan our last stop two days before we got off the ship. I figured that instead of running around the ship trying to find D&S I would let them know when we met at the Red dog saloon after our tour.

Getting off the ship was a little crazy . Dorothy and I had a tour we were going on so we lined up in the crush at and waited some not very patiently to get off the ship. After that it was easy they held up placards and pointed out which direction we would be going in.. Found our bus that left a wee bit late as people were still trying to get off the boat.

Bus ride for 20 minutes and we were at the marina and on the St Phillip, all the boats were named after Russian orthodox saints, and out to sea in 10 more minutes after the great safety talk. Very pretty, but it was raining and it started to snow a little.  The boat was a catamaran with two floors the lower one inside completely and the upper half enclosed and half open. 

Once we had traveled for about 15-20 minutes  going around an island and up the channel , the sun came out and the wind died down and it was beautiful. We saw hump back whales and headed over to see if they would  rise again and stay in the area but they did not so we carried on to a wonderful rocky beach area where there were sea-lions. A whole lot of sea-lions.

Our tall young good looking naturalist onboard was very good at giving us lots of information on the area and the wildlife.

We left the sea-lions and saw some more humpbacks who also disappeared. Now when one sees a humpback whale what one mostly sees is a portion of the pack above the water. how one can tell if it is the same whale that one has seen before from a bit of back is beyond me.

Suddenly the tour got much more interesting as came upon a small pod of three killer whales. Very exciting. We stayed with the Orca for quite some time until we came upon a grouping of about 4 tour boats and decided that it was too much for the whales to deal with and headed back to the dock. What a great experience.

 Back to town to meet D&S at the red dog saloon where I ordered an Alaskan beer and potato skins. I let them know what Mateau had said and we discussed that for a while. what could we do really. nothing but have a good time and hope that we did in fact get our luggage at some point.

We found a pharmacy and then wandered our way through a few stores picking up the free gifts that some were offering.  I picked up about 30 postcards in different shops, Then we all kind of split up in different directions. Diane one-way, me another and Dorothy and Shirley in another. 

I bought a beautiful reversible alpaca sweater even though it was expensive. It was great, Two outfits for the price of two outfits. I got the kids each a t-shirt and more post cards. 

We met back on board ship and got ready for dinner at the Metropolitan again. We all had tales to tell. There had been a fair in town so Pat and Don went there. 

After dinner Dorothy and I had an appointment at the spa up on deck 8. Filled out the paper work and then were brought to the change room where the floors were as cold as ice. Had a wonderful mini facial, a head and shoulder massage, and a foot and hand massage. I think I fell asleep. Then they tell you about the wonderful products that you can and should be using so with the massages and the products my bill came to 190 $ ouch. It was nice though.

 Back through the casino where we caught the last act of the show and looked at the Pandora look-alike jewelry that they had on sale. Decided not to get it but the real thing. Aurora has a Pandora bracelet so now I know what to get her for birthdays and Christmases. Diane was already in bed with a robe over her head so I slipped into my bed very quietly and fell asleep so fast I don’t remember turning off the light but I must have. Skagway Tomorrow.