We were waken by the sound of whales blowing. This time it turned out to be a small pod of orcas. A male, a female and a calf. The first orcas we have seen here. Soon an humpback with a calf also appeared, she appeared a bit agitated flapping with her tail and “singing”. Maybe it was because of the orcas? A few more humpbacks were blowing further away toward Admirality island so at least half a dozen whales was in line of sight for morning coffee.
Just as we had taken down camp Rick appeared. We asked about the dead, fleeced sea otters. Was it legal to hunt them? Yes, for natives was the answer. And because the sea otters population is booming, hunting is actually encouraged by the authorities.
Rick also explained about the whale watching industry. The largest in the world worked out of Juneau, 75 outfits serving the 1.6 million cruise passengers that visits Juneau per year (Juneau population is ca 32 000).
Their homestead had a wide view of the prime whale watching area between Shelter Island and Admirality island. They did not like what they saw. The whales were chased all across the strait. We had seen the frantic scurrying of ships from Admirality island yesterday afternoon, and wondered if some sort of urgent search was going on. So here was the explanation; it was whale chasing.
Next we were invited to a tour of the homestead, and explained about the water collection, greenhouses, ponds (with fish to eat mosquito larvae), escavator to build access to get out timber for firewood, two cabins for the WWOFers, solar power, wind power a back up generator, a wood fired hot tub, a 1930’s fully workable Ford A model truck…etc, and also a “flower power” (?) monument in the form of a VW beetle, and more
The “beetle monument” was Karen, Rick’s wife’s work. And it wasn’t her only artistic exploit. On grandson Tyler’s insistence we got to see the winter coat SHA had made as last winters “winter project”, all from recycled T-shirts. Quite impressive!
We need winter projects round here when we are alone on the island Karen explained.
We also got a quick introduction to cooking on wood fired stoves. The Amish still builds them to 19th century specifications and quality.
Time to bid farewell and paddle the last 15 km of our journey.
As the family and WWOFs helped us carry the kayaks we looked out on the bay where half a dozen whales had been feeding in the morning. Now we saw no whales, but rather a full dozen of whale watching boats scurrying around looking for the whales that had chased away.
Food for thought as we paddled the last km. The cruise/whale watching industry seemed to be close to destroying the whale presence and behaviour they were living off. And every year whales are killed by collisions with ships. Four so far this season we were told.
On the other hand a lot of Juneau live “down stream” from this industry. Weaning off will take some doing.
Maybe too much thinking and too little attention paid to landing spot. We managed to pass the suggested kayak delivery point by several km and ended up in the marina of Auke Bay.
Fortunately, Mike who will take the kayaks on behalf of Joe saw us paddle by and came over to help with a van.
When he saw how much luggage we took out of the boats, he offered to loan us his other truck! Soon a quite proud Karianne came back back with a truck that just dwarfed her!
We found accommodation above a laundromat! Top location for our purpose. What remains now is rest, wash and repair. And travel home on Saturday. No more blogs.
Comments
3,440 responses to “Wednesday 30th of July. Shelter Island to Juneau. End of journey”
The pacing of the post was just right, never rushed and never dragged out unnecessarily, and a look at moonveilgoods maintained the same rhythm, you can tell the writer has experience because the difficult skill of pacing is something only practiced writers manage to handle well in long form content over time and across formats.
Now feeling the small relief of finding writing that does not condescend, and a stop at ginadawson extended that respect for readers, content that treats its audience as capable adults rather than as people to be managed produces a different reading experience and this site has clearly chosen the respectful approach across all pieces.
Appreciated how the writer anticipated the questions a reader might have along the way, and a stop at heritagemerge continued that thoughtful approach, you can tell when content has been edited with the reader in mind versus just published as a first draft and this is clearly the former approach across what I read.
Decided to subscribe to the RSS feed if there is one, and a stop at aerotrove confirmed that decision, content that I want delivered to me proactively rather than just remembered when I have time is content that has earned a higher level of commitment from me as a reader looking for reliable sources.
A piece that exhibited the kind of patience that good writing requires, and a look at davidsteele continued that patient quality, hurried writing is easy to spot and this site reads as having been written without time pressure which produces a different feel than the rushed content that dominates much of the modern blog space.
A quiet piece that did not try to compete on volume, and a look at webthrive maintained that selective approach, sites that publish less but better are increasingly rare in an environment that rewards volume and this one has clearly chosen quality cadence over quantity which is a brave editorial decision in current conditions.
Generally I do not leave comments but this post merits a small note, and a stop at blog44grounds extended that comment worthy quality, the urge to actively contribute to a sites community rather than passively consume from it is something specific content provokes and this site has provoked that engagement urge from me today.
Took longer than expected to finish because I kept stopping to think, and a stop at bluestreammarket did the same to me, content that provokes thought rather than just delivering information is in a different category and the team here is clearly working at that higher level rather than just cranking out posts.
Skipped lunch to finish reading, which says something, and a stop at rapidbyte kept me at my desk longer than planned, when content beats the lunch impulse the writer has done something genuinely impressive in an attention environment full of immediately satisfying alternatives competing for the same finite block of reader time.
Just sat with this for a bit longer than I usually would because the points are worth thinking about, and after blog66culture I had even more to chew on, the kind of post that nudges your thinking forward without forcing the issue is something I have always appreciated in good writing online.