Saturday 9/10 - Juneau

The day broke gray and dreary, and stayed that way most of the day. We went whale watching, stopped off at Orca Point Lodge for a salmon bake, then ended the day at Mendenhall glacier - in a misty rain. Very similar to the weather we ran into when visiting Worthington glacier back on our '00 cruise - it was our only rainy day of that cruise, also! Maybe it's a problem we have with Dept. of Interior glaciers!

We did see lot's of humpback whales, Dall's porpoises, eagles and more during the whale watch portion of the tour. The porpoises, in fact, swam up and accompanied us for a while.

During dinner, about 4 hours out of Juneau, the capt. made an announcement that we were turning back because of a medical emergency. Considering the average age (and shape) of cruisers, the first thought is always a heart attack. But, a couple of hours later, when a medevac helicoptor hovered over the bow of the ship and took two passengers up in a basket, we learned that it was actually a young boy, one of only 40 children aboard, who'd suffered a ruptured appendix and was being rushed back for surgery. It created lot's of excitement!

We ended up getting to our next port, Ketchikan, only about an hour and a half late - the capt. really laid on the steam late at night!