Juneau

The ship's horn sounded all night long last night. Not so loud in our cabin (stateroom, as the cruise lines like to call them), it wasn't enough to keep me awake but I could hear it whenever I was awake. 

Sometime around 0300, I noticed the ship's motion had smoothed out. The stabilizers cancel out a lot of the rolling motion, but the pitching (up and down motion of the bow and stern) can't be helped. When we entered waters sheltered by the many islands around here, the rocking and rolling ceased. About the same time I noticed the horn was silenced.

The ship's clock was moved back one hour at 0200 this morning as we entered a new time zone. About 0530 I stepped outside to check the weather and saw what passed for early morning sun.

The respite was short and we soon reentered the fog and rain.

Around 1030 we broke out of the fog again and could watch the passing shore. As we entered the passageway to Juneau, we could see bank fishermen trying their luck for salmon in the flood tide.

In the Juneau harbor we joined four other cruise ships. There were two Norwegian, one Princess and one Carnival ship already tied up or anchored. Our assigned spot was just behind the Monarch of the Seas, on the right, below. The two that were anchored were using lighters to ferry pax back and forth on the short trip to the dock.

As you can see by the wet windows, the rain continued. If you take a cruise to Alaska, I advise bringing raingear and umbrellas no matter that it's summer.

I'm always amazed at how the crew can maneuver such a large ship without assistance from tugboats. At this point we were moving at dead slow and easing sideways into our berth.

Our sternline will be secured to the bollard atop the pilings in the center. In the background you can see the two Eagle Trams passing as they carry tourists to the lookout (and more shopping opportunities) on top. Many of the workers in the souvenir shops work Alaska in the summer and the Caribbean cruise ports in the winter. 

Dock workers pulling the sternline up to the bollard.

We watched the passengers, and some crew, getting wet as they made their way up the dock and into the many shopping areas ashore.

I thought we would be dry and cozy aboard but Iko had other ideas. She needed to find some hair spray so off we went into the rain. Fortunately, I had stashed a couple of collapsible umbrellas in my backpack so we stayed relatively dry. Some of the other pax had umbrellas and many had rain gear, but there also were many who were soaked by the continuing rain. 

Rain has to make its way back to the ocean, so some of Juneau's rain results in the scenic streams that tumble down the hills behind the Capital of Alaska.

Well, it's almost time for dinner so I'll close this post out and join you again tomorrow.