A sunny week to Juneau

 On this route, there were some humpback whales a leaping...

 Since I was on the noon to midnight shift this time (a new shift for me) I got to see some things I hadn't before...  This is Patterson Bay, a little bite out of Baranof island.  The sun set slowly over the high mountains as the rock walls just blossomed. 

Glacier day was great, as it always is.  We went up Endicott Arm again.

 During the trip a big sailboat was following us.  The Athena came gliding through the ice as we were heading out of Endicott. 

 The ice slowly melted up on the hillsides...

As well as on our own small ice field.

Homecoming

So I've been having a great time home, and luckily my nieces and nephews all came up at the right time to visit!  My sister's family was here first, and they include an avid bicyclist, Henry.  We made a video of his travels through a local park here...




My eldest brother also came up and he brought his kids as well.  We went out sailing and adventuring at my dad's place for creatures...

 This is Nora, my sister Rachel's youngest.

 And Henry, her oldest.

 And Here is Elijah, my brother Jeremy's youngest.

 For those who are botanically inclined... What is this?  And where? 

Home again

 I'm home after a long six weeks of work. I don't know what to do with myself, and I'll be living on Altair for the next two weeks until I ship out again.  Bellingham is fantastic, however, so I will miss it here.  These are some shots from the last week aboard ship before flying home...

In Juneau Again...

Another northbound trip, and the last of this term for me. It was kind of foggy and cloudy for most of the trip, and for that reason (or maybe others) I didn't take very many pictures, until later in the trip. I went on a small bushwacking hike where we explored a beaver dam and then made our way through the untracked wild until we got to a beach, where we were picked up at. It was exciting to go through the bush, to truly go off trail, but very slow. Since the weeks are starting to blur together, and I am on the shift that makes it hard to stay up during the day, I'm not able to see the sights quite as much, but I am continually seeing new things. The Arctic Terns are starting to sit on the ice in the Glacial Fjord, which they haven't been doing before. I had seen a few flying around, but none sitting on the ice. Every location that we go to is slightly different than when last we were here, and it is neat to see the differences. More salmon (but not yet huge flocks) more bears, and more whales.

This next turn day (I'm writing this on friday) will begin my last week and I am feeling really excited about it. I like the southbound trip a lot, and I want to have some time off, and go for a little bit of sailing on my own boat.