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”
Honestly this hits the sweet spot between detail and brevity, no rambling and no shortcuts, and a quick visit to radarhaven kept that going across the related pages, the kind of place that respects your attention without trying to grab it through cheap tactics or attention seeking design choices that get tired fast.
I learned more from this short post than from longer articles I read earlier today, and a stop at henvoria added even more useful detail without going off topic, this site clearly knows how to keep things focused without sacrificing depth which is a hard balance to strike for any writer.
Quiet confidence runs through the whole post, no need to shout to make the points stick, and a stop at datazen carried that same restrained voice forward, content that respects the reader by trusting its own substance rather than dressing it up in theatrical language is what I look for online and rarely actually find these days.
Closed the laptop after this and let the ideas settle for a few hours, and a stop at utilityunit similarly rewarded reflective time, content that benefits from sitting with rather than racing past is the kind I want more of and the kind that this site appears to consistently produce week after week here.
Clean writing, easy to read, and never tries too hard to impress, that combination is harder to find than people think, and after my time on datayield I am sure this site treats its readers well, no flashy tricks just useful content done right which is honestly all I want online.
Useful information presented in a way that does not feel like a sales pitch, that is what I appreciated most, and a stop at brightbloomy was the same, no upsell and no fake urgency just steady content laid out properly for someone trying to actually learn from it rather than just be sold to.
Will be sharing this with a couple of people who care about the topic, and a stop at brightbargain added more material worth passing along, the kind of site that is generous with quality content and does not make you jump through hoops to access it which is appreciated more than the team probably realises.
This stands out compared to similar posts I have read recently, less noise and more substance, and a look at kidkismet kept that gap going, you can really feel the difference between content made by someone who cares versus content made to fill a publishing schedule for an algorithm trying to keep growing somehow.
Thanks for the readable length, I finished it without checking how much was left, and a stop at rankincharge kept me reading the same way, when I stop noticing the length of a piece because the content is engaging enough to sustain attention without willpower the writer has done their job well today.
A piece that did not lean on the writer credentials or institutional backing, and a look at blog33open maintained the same focus on substance, content that earns trust through quality rather than through name dropping is the kind I find most persuasive and this site is clearly playing on the substance side of that distinction.