The delightful town of Juneau is the official capital of the USA State of Alaska. It is situated on the Gastineau Channel …an area Cruisers call the inside passage. It is both a coastal and a mountain town which is rich in both culture and wildlife.
It was named in 1881, after gold prospector Joe Juneau and it became the designated capital of Alaska in 1906. It covers an area of 3,255sq miles, of which only 14sq miles are inhabited by approx 32,400 people.
One of Juneaus unique features is that you can not drive to it. The rugged mountain ranges surrounding Juneau make it impossible to access by road. People either fly in, arrive by ferry or like many visitors arrive by cruise ship.
We have been fortunate to visit Juneau on many different occasions. This has meant we have visited most of its attractions :-
The beautiful Mendenhall Glacier is only 12 miles from the centre of Juneau and is a very popular attraction. Visitors enjoy a variety of activities here including hiking, wildlife viewing, and exploring the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. On one occasion when we visited the UK BBC had just finished filming bears during the salmon spawning season from the raised wooden walkway along the river at the foot of the glacier. Lots of people choose to glacier walk here. We, however, like walking the wooden platforms looking for bears. We’ve been lucky a couple of times and even luckier to see a porcupine rattle past us.
Mendenhall GlacierClose up of Mendenhall Glacier
The Mount Roberts Tramway is another visitor attraction. Although there is usually a long queue it moves quickly and it never seems crowded at the top . The tramway is a quick and scenic ride to the top of Mount Roberts, from here you can enjoy panoramic views of Juneau and the surrounding area.
The Salmon Hatchery is extremely interesting. You learn all about Alaska’s important salmon industry, the 5 different types of Salmon and you get to see salmon up close.
Our favourite activity which we do every time is Juneau is Whale Watching. Juneau is a great place to spot humpback whales and killer whales (orcas), especially between April and November. We take a tour boat out in Auke Bay. The company we always use guarantee that we will see whales or they will give you your money back. We’ve never had to have a refund because we have always seen whales…..splendid sightings…
Breaching Humpback Whale Whale FlukeOrca whale (often referred to as the Killer whale ) .
Beethoven by the Bakers Tuk-Tuk did not wake us at 5.30 am…mores the pity ( some people are never happy!!!) it was instead the good old iPhone alarm ….we scurried into our clothes and descended at 5.50am…only to find no one about and everywhere locked up. On the door was a message with 3 numbers to phone if you wanted help…..well! we did …. we needed to get out..so I went behind the reception desk and used their phone to ring the first number…after some wait it was answered and I told the man on the end we needed to get out ‘quick’, quick’. John in the meanwhile had managed to unbolt the front door and we descended into the front drive only to find the gate chained and padlocked. Suminda was the other side waiting for us, as he began to dial the number he had, a man appeared and unpadlocked the gate….Having received our ‘get out of jail card’ we were transferred by Suminda to one of the whale watching offices, from where two tickets were duly purchased. At 6.30 am be embarked on the Whale Watching boat, we climbed to the top deck and took the only two available seats together. All aboard by 6.45am and we were set a drift, passing out of the busy fishing harbour into the Indian Ocean.
I was immediately very pleased that I had decided to take half a Kwelles ( sea sickness tablet) before leaving the hotel….it was a risk because they often make me a bit doopy and unsteady on my feet…but as John said cheekily that he probably wouldn’t notice the difference, I risked it. Thank goodness I did..it was very rough with deep peeks and troughs and a few people began to feel unwell. I kept my bottom on the seat and my eyes peeled on the horizon and although we both turned down the breakfast which was offered we both managed without incident. We had been going about an hour when we saw a small pod of Spinner Dolphins. Another hour passed and this time we encountered a much bigger pod…they were really performing by jumping out of the water pirouetting and diving back in. They looked much smaller than the bottle nosed dolphins we are used to seeing in various parts of the world. Their small size made them even cuter.
We saw 3 or 4 Flying Fish which always fascinate us. In fact we have 4 canvas prints of flying fish, above our bathroom door at home, which John tool in the Caribbean a couple of years ago….When I get home I’ll put our favourite up as a limited edition print ( if I remember!!). As we were returning we came across another large pod who raced along our sides and in our wake, leaping and pirouetting as if preforming to keep us entertained.
The waters were much calmer on our return and the crew brought some fruit around. This time we accepted, as it was 15 hours since we’d last eaten and we were both rather peckish. We docked at 12.20 to find Suminda patiently waiting for us. Our itinerary said we were going to see the stilt fishermen today. However, it is a Full Moon day, which is a Sri Lankan holiday and Suminda wasn’t certain anyone would be fishing so we agreed to go tomorrow on our journey to our next hotel. We stopped at an ATM on the way back to our hotel. We were running a bit short of SLR ( Sri Lankan Rupees) and it seems easier to use the machine than to find somewhere to change US$’s.. unfortunately this machine charged SLR 800 ( approx £2) for the withdrawal……but hey ho!! We were financially sound again. When we got back to Sea World Botique our breakfast table was still laid, as promised, and our full breakfast was provided the same as the previous day, although today we also had some rather scary looking fruit which tasted lovely, known as rambutan. It was very similar in taste to a Lychee.
Suminda asked reception if it was possible to have breakfast at 8.00am the following day as we had a lot we wanted to do and they readily agreed. As we were having breakfast one of the reception team, he could be the manager, came and asked us if we would change rooms to a sea view ‘ at no extra charge’. We readily agreed, he said he wanted us to give the hotel a good review. After breakfast we did our bags up…well nearly one case needs a repack as it won’t close!!!! And moved to a sea view on the first floor…heaven… only half the number of stairs. The room was absolutely delightful….a very large 4 poster bed, superb views of the sea, the sound of the wave crashing, large bathroom with jacuzzi shower, enough room for both suitcases to be open at the same time….if you decide to stay here make certain you book a sea view room not a standard room…it’s gorgeous
After changing rooms we pounced on a pair of Sun loungers and spent several hours watching the world go by and dipping in and out of the pool.
Deciding it was a shame waste such a lovely room we retired for a siesta. Sea World Botique really is a very nice hotel. It’s not their fault our scheduled first night here hadn’t been booked, neither is it their fault that I didn’t book a sea view room. They have how’re tried very hard to make certain our need are met and they’ve been great at calling tuk-tuks, dealing with our laundry, providing very late breakfast as well as an early one etc…nothing seems to be too much trouble …would we stay here again …. Yes definitely we can highly recommend it if you are considering a holiday here. Whilst on the sun decal we chatted to an English couple who are staying their entire two weeks holiday here. They are having day trips out to see sites, Safari etc but love their sea view room, the pool, the sun deck, the snorkelling, the food and the drink. If we ever came again we might well do the same ..after a few days in Wilpattu of course !!!
After a refreshing snooze we readied ourselves and decided to return to Salt restaurant on the beach. We hailed a Tuk-Tuk and haggled the price from £2 to £1 as that’s what it was the other night…but we gave him a tip so he was happy. Off we went arriving a few minutes later at Salt…front shore side table for two was waiting for us. We didn’t bother with the menu, just the fish table. This time we selected a smaller mullet and 10 big jumbo prawns to go with it. It arrived on two separate plates so we halfed it and tucked in…needless to say it was delicious and we soon consumed the lot and finished the meal with a selection of ice cream each…all for the princely price of £39.
At 9.00pm on the dot our tuk-tuk driver returned to pick us up and he safely deposited us back at our hotel……tummies full and very relaxed we retired after what could only be described as ‘the perfect day’.
2 J's World of Adventure 