Chapter 10: Flying to Juneau
If you followed the first nine chapters of this blog from Dominica, you know that this continues my year of the whale.
Today, I'm off to bond with the Whale Trust. The trip supports the 501c(3) Whale Trust's research and education programs under the guidance of Dr. Meagan Jones Gray. More about her and them at whaletrust.org and in later chapters this week. My Expedition Leads are National Geographic Photographers; there is a phenomenal powerhouse collection of professional photographers on this trek. I hope to learn a lot.
The day is a simple but long one. Car service at 4:15am for a far-earlier-than-necessary arrival at the Kansas City International Airport for a 6:00am-7:55am almost four-hour long Alaska Airlines flight from Kansas City to Seattle, a layover of less than two hours at SEATAC and then a 9:04am-10:34am two-and-a-half hour flight to Juneau, Alaska.
The Seattle-Juneau leg delivers some gorgeous views. I cross three time zones covering 2,391 miles during that ten hour time span. Even so, it is well before noon when I walk into the Baranof Hotel. Of note: the temperature here is 54-about 40 degrees cooler than in Kansas City. My body isn't ready for the chill it delivers.
Across the street and down the block, the Port of Juneau is packed with cruise ships: the Ruby Princess (3,080 passengers), the Holland America Noordam (2,366 passengers), the Norwegian Jewel (2,376 passengers), the Oceania Regatta (684 passengers) and the American Cruise Lines American Constitution (175 passengers). That's 8,681 transients already here ahead of me. By the time I get to town, most of them are off on adventures. That's a good thing because I can't check into the hotel until 3:00pm. That gives me time to look around as I continue my 2024 fixation on whales. I had to do it--I revisited a humpback sculpture and was able to document all five cruise ships in port clustered behind another art piece.
Tonight I meet with my host, Dr. Meagan Jones, Whale Trust Founder and Executive Director for a welcome dinner at TK Maguire's restaurant at the Ramada by Wyndham hotel. (I passed by it earlier on what turned into a six mile walk to kill time until my room was available). Local professional photographer Mark Kelley and Whale Trust photographers Flip Nicklin and Ralph Lee Hopkins host fellow participants Peter, Nancy, Maria, her son Grayson, Ann and her friend Thula. Both captain Josh and first mate Andrew were there as was Flip Meghan Jones is the reason I know of this opportunity. Her parents are friends with our Vero and Kansas City friends Randy and Sandy Rolf who, knowing of my whale fixation, suggested that I join this expedition. Thanks, Randy and Sandy.
The dinner chemistry was good. I think this is going to be a fun few days.
