Juneau Alaska

 On our way to Juneau the capital city of Alaska the scenery was just beautiful and we saw the first of many small icebergs. The fading light gave off some beautiful hues. There is a long twilight up here as once the sun is set it takes about another hour for it to be completely dark.

All was not well on this ship which looked beautiful with its lighting. We noticed it had slowed and stopped around 9.15pm. Thought nothing more of it until the next day when it docked in front of us in Juneau around 8am. Then in the news we heard there had been a murder on board at 9pm the night before. Of course the news went world wide. We felt very sorry for the passengers who had their cruise of a life time disrupted. No one was allowed to leave the Ship until 7pm that night and their cruise itinerary had to be re-scheduled. Ironically they had had a murder-mystery on board the evening of the murder and at first the security crew though it was just a mock up only to find it was very real.

 In Juneau we visited a salmon hatchery which was run on a very large scale. The hatchery each year collects hundred of millions of eggs from returning salmon. These are incubated and grow in a totally dark environment. They then require one year of rearing in fresh water or also called imprinting. When they are finally released into salt water they 'imprint' on their home stream and the salmon memorise the the unique chemical makeup of this water as their birthplace and then they are able to find their way back home for spawning. Amazing creatures.

 The start of the salmon ladders. the water was thick with salmon trying to get up the ladders.

 The capital city  of Juneau with a population of 32.400 is still only accessible by sea or air. It has the feel of a small town in the centre but the housing spreads out along both sides of the river. The historic buildings were beautifully maintained and there were some very nice small local shops. Unfortunately in Alaska all the large cruise ships own large souvineer shops which all sell the same merchandise. We soon learned to stay clear of those. We had never seen so many jewellery shops in each town we went to and also all selling the same.

 The Mendenhall Glacier which is one of Alaska's most accessible glaciers and is about a 40 minute drive from Juneau.

 Mid town in Juneau.

 This fishing boat and the smaller boat cast a circle of net in the water just off the wharf. They dragged it in slowly and had a huge catch of salmon in the net. The harbour was so full of salmon. Apparently they did this three times that night.

 Juneau at dusk from the ship.