Alaska Cruise Part 2: Tracy's Arm and Whale Watching in Juneau

Wednesday morning we woke up early because our ship was headed through Tracy's Arm: a waterway with cliffs on each side and a glacier at the end. We bundled up and staked a claim on the railing at the front of the boat...for three hours. It was freezing, but well worth it for such amazing landscape! On each side of the boat were beautiful cliffs with waterfalls spilling over the sides, or glaciers in the background. As we drew closer and closer to the glacier, we'd see ice chunks floats through the water. The glacier was quite magnificant, just so much bigger than I could have imagined! On the way out of Tracy's Arm, we sat in a hot tub and enjoyed some scenery from the back of the boat; it was an amazing beginning to the day!

Now to my favorite part of the trip: whale watching! So seeing whales was one of my dreams in life, and I actually got to do it on this trip, isn't that awesome! In Juneau we went on a small boat for a whale watching excursion. I was trying to not get my hopes up on seeing too many whales, but God gave us such a gift! First we saw 2 different whales (all whales were humpbacks). They were fun to watch, but nothing compared to what was coming! Our boat found a group of 12, yes 12 whales that were bubble feeding (meaning they all rush to the surface in a circle to feed). It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. One of the times  as they were rushing to the surface, our captain put on underwater speakers and we could hear the whales calling out to each other...I'm getting chills just describing it. It was hard to narrow down pictures, but I tried to put in some that showed you just how many whales we were seeing. Also, make sure to look at the mountain scenery behind the whales; such a perfect setting! The final picture is of Mendenhall Glacier, which is right in the town of Juneau. Someone asked me if I photoshoped the picture to enhance the colors: nope! They were just that brillant!