#48 – Swanson Harbor to Auke Bay-Juneau

After last night's pasta extravaganza with too many glasses of wine, the Wild Blue crew slowly awakened to the bright daylight at 8AM-ish. Swanson Harbor was quiet, the fisherman having left in their fast sport-fishers earlier in the morning. Today we'll cruise to Auke Bay just outside Juneau. Sarah is waiting, one day before her departure from the State Capitol.

We exit Swanson at 9AM-ish expecting to make Auke Bay by noon. We turn left around Point Couverden up towards the Lynn Canal and turn right at the Point Retreat Lighthouse.

Our route to Auke Bay

The Point Retreat Lighthouse with Mendenhall Glacier in the upper left background.

Auke Bay has one good-sized marina that's easy to access from the west, as opposed to Juneau, which has many marinas but requires another 3-hour motor around Douglass Island to reach them. The marina is about 10-miles by car from Juneau, so on our arrival, we contact Rent-A-Wreck, the preferred auto rental firm.

Mendenhall Glacier looms just above Auke Bay.

Pat organizes a supply run and heads to Costco and Fred Meyer with crew. On their return, the crew surprise Alex with a new camera from Costco: a Panasonic-Lumix with 12X zoom lens, a way-better camera than Canon's SD750. Now the Blog can continue to picture Alaska, in great detail, even without the crew's $40,000 cameras and lens aboard.

A business and email update is needed and we find fast internet service available in Juneau at the old Alaska Hotel. Pat takes us on a tour of Juneau's residential districts and we are surprised at the quaint Victorians, as well as modern architecture. These housing areas are inviting and much tidier than the commercial streets. Even Sarah's home seems open and friendly, even on her last day in office. We top off the day with a tasty dinner at the Twisted Fish restaurant, just a few steps from the cruise ship loading ramp. The linguini with fresh clams made it special.

Alex bellies up to the bar at Hotel Alaska.