Auke Bay and Skagway

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  Auke Bay, Alaska, United States
Saturday, July 4, 2009

Tuesday, June 30

We bypassed Juneau and went instead to Auke Bay about 14 miles from Juneau.  The harbor here is really nice and busy with fishing boats.  They have an interesting procedure to assign spots. It's first come first served.  You wander around until you find an open berth and grab it.  After we found a spot and checked in with the harbormaster we hopped the city bus to Juneau.  Juneau, like Ketchikan is a cruise ship stop.  The area near the dock caters to the tourists.  It seems like every other store is a jewelry store. 

Wednesday & Thursday, July 2-3

 Skagway is the very northern most destination on the Inside Passage

Our plane to Skagway

.  We had originally planned to go there in the boat.  After doing some research and comparing costs, we decided to fly to Skagway instead of taking our boat, spend the night and come back the next day.  We are so glad we made that decision.  The flight was great. We flew in a  Cessna Caravan 208, which seats 8 people and one pilot.  When there are 9 passengers one has to sit in the co-pilots seat. We were able to relax and enjoy the 40 minute flight and see some beautiful scenery from a totally different point of view.  There were four cruise ships in port when we got to Skagway and as we walked to the main street it was wall to wall people.  There is only one main street in Skagway, the whole city is about 3 blocks wide and 12 blocks long.  It’s a great place to people watch.  On Thursday we took the 3 hour train ride on the White Pass Yukon Railway and learned about the history of the Yukon gold rush.  We saw even more beautiful scenery.  On the flight back to Juneau, we asked the pilot if he would fly over the Juneau ice fields, which includes about 6 named glaciers.  It wasn’t the normal flight path but everyone on the flight agreed so we did.  We flew fairly low and experienced the jagged peaks of the Juneau ice field up close and personal.  We were so awed by the experience it is hard to describe.  The pictures are cool but it was 100 times more spectacular than the pictures.  It was almost like flying over another icy planet.

Thousands of cruise ship tourists in Skagway

 After we got back to Juneau, we unloaded our backpacks and headed to the bus stop to do food shopping at Fred Meyer.  We had 2 full backpacks and 4 "Fred bags" that we hauled back onto the bus and then to the boat.  It was 9:00 PM by the time we got back to the boat and unloaded groceries.  We were tired and hungry. 

Saturday, July 4

We spent the morning doing housekeeping chores.  In the afternoon we spent time visiting with the people docked behind us.  It is always fun to meet new people and share boating experiences.  We had a dock party with drinks and appetizers during the evening with 3 other couples.  It was fun and entertaining.  Tomorrow we are leaving Juneau and heading in the direction of Glacier Bay.

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1 of 2 tunnels on the railway

Flying over the ice field and glacier

Jagged peaks and snow

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