Looking for whales and other wildlife

The only to "tour" we planned was a boat trip to go whale watching. Martha and Maris have seen plenty of whales in Hawaii...and I've seen a few from a distance. Also got to see a Right Whale off the coast of Melbourne Beach once...but we were hoping to get to see some big whales up close(er). Maris was hoping to see some Orcas. So...we decided to book the tour  for our day in Juneau and hope for the best.

 We lucked out once again with the weather. It was cloudy and a little drizzly, btu the water was calm as could be. Our guide was very informative and we liked the other three people on our boat. It was a family from Houston, they were all very pleasant and we all got along.
Our first stop...a big buoy to see some seals

. They were pretty funny. The three big ones were not letting the little guy up on the buoy. He was swimming around trying to hop up. He made it a few times but the big ones barked at him and made him jump back off. He never gave up...but neither did they. The guide warned us that while they look playful...you wouldn't want to ever get too close to them, because they BITE. After watching them for a while we headed to a spot where whales had been seen recently. There were three or four other boats in the area, so we figured we were in the right place. Looking at the other boats we were happy ours only had John, Martha, Maris and I plus the family of three!

as I mentioned in an earlier post, the coolest thing for me was Hearing the whale, before actually seeing it. Someone would hear it "blow" and then we'd all start looking around the area for it to surface again and flip it's tail. Each time we heard one we'd move closer and the other boats in the area would move in as well.
We had hoped we might see some bears...but no luck there. We passed an island where many of them live (according to our guide) but didn't stop. Later we heard from some of our friends who went on a tour while they were in Alaska. They went to a "spot" where someone blew a whistle (rang a bell? something like that) and the bears all came out to eat. He laughed and said maybe we were better off not having gone on that particular tour. hahahahah He and his wife joked that it was like being at Disney World or something.
While in Skagway we saw lots of salmon running.

It was interesting to watch them all working their way up the streams.

John wished he had had a fishing pole...he would have fished all afternoon. He did go to a local thrift store to see if they might have one...no luck. probably better, because he needed a license
Our day at see was kind of uneventful

. It was rainy, foggy and chilly.

There were activities on board of course...I actually tried Zumba and had fun doing it. Why not...I wasn't going to see any of those people again...hahahaha Also participated in some of the organized games on board. There was a putting contest...didn't participate, but had fun watching those that did. Interesting people watching! hahahahah.I thought about entering the paper airplane contest....but they gave you a sheet of paper to make your own "plane".

I couldn't remember exactly how to make one...and Josh wasn't available...hahahah so I opted out. Once people made their planes they had to toss them and try to get them through a hula hoop that was suspended from the upper deck.

That was fun too... all different shapes and sizes some flew well....others not so much. My favorite was the last entrant...the host asked her where her plane was...she said she had messed it up and showed him a wad of crumpled paper aka her plane.He let her toss it...it went right through the hoop....hahahahah! My kind of plane.
Victoria BC was nice too.

We didn't really have enough time to really explore though. We had a late start out of Skagway, due to a situation that came up with a passenger, so we had less time in port to look around.

It's a pretty town, lots of art, and colorful  flowers everywhere..  and we got there at my favorite time of day...twilight.

There was some sort of celebration going on at the town square

. Military parades and bands, good music. A nice treat. We all walked to the Fairmont Empress Hotel. I really wanted to check it out. It was too late to have tea :( and we didn't need to eat dinner there...so we settled for appetizers and a drink.

I had hoped to check out the Butchart Gardens...but we didn't really have enough time to take the bus out, see it and get back in time. Maybe another time. I know they're beautiful.

 The last leg of the trip was smooth "sailing".