Sea Badger

The star attractions at the Vancouver Aquarium are the sea badgers. They put on such a show for the crowds, swimming around with their playthings, teasing each other and showing off.

Vancouver Sea Life

Jellyfish at the Vancouver Aquarium, the best such facility I know of.

Icy Seal

If Only I'd Read the Sign

Secret Squirrel

This squirrel was sprinting around near Juneau's Mendenhall Glacier.

Banana Slug

A fellow tourist licked this very slug. Apparently it results in a numb or tingly tongue. I'd already had lunch, so didn't feel the need for a taste myself.

Bergy Bits

Where is this? It's definitely Alaska, but I don't remember where.

Fading

12 More Minutes

Another 10 minutes...

15 Minutes Later

10 Minutes Later

Now the glow had covered most of the sky and glimpses of different colours appeared.

Luminous Nights

My northern lights experience began with a misty green glow.

An eerie moon rose. The moist atmosphere blurred out any features on the moon's surface.

Whaling

A pod of humpback whales surrounded the boat, and refused to let us pass till we fed them.

Noctilucence

What a speccy sunset. Yes, a speccy sunset. Note the snow-capped peaks in the background of the third shot.

Swampy Wilderness

One day east of Juneau, our little boat reached an little settlement, Bartlett Cove. And nearby was a trail through the rainforest. Here's was an especially damp spot.

Exit Glacier

It was a little sad to see the Exit Glacier near Seward in its shrunken state. It's receding so quickly that the path has to be extended every year to reach it. How many years till it recedes all the way up the mountain...

Do you know Juneau?

Having spent a few rainy days exploring Alaska's capital I grew very fond of the place.

The main street alongside the cruise ship berths is a Disneyland of souvenir shops, designed to ensnare well funded passengers onshore for the day. The place is buzzing when ships are in town, but when they all head back onboard at their teatime, it's deathly quiet. And the season is short. By mid-September, most of the tourist traps shut up ahead of winter, and many move south, following the big ships to the Carribbean.

Above town the suburbs are full of quaint wooden houses on the sides of mountains.

Driving from town to the airport can be an adventure. Bald eagles sit on the lampposts, and on one occasion, our taxi driver said that he saw two bears wrestling in a field beside the road, just minutes before he picked us up. We returned a bit late but they'd moved on by then.

Whittier Sea-Badger

The tsunami-prone town of Whittier was a perfect stop for one night. The thrill of potentially seeing a monster wave was enough to keep me awake all night. But there was also the treat of a walk along the spit, and finding a sea otter floating a few metres offshore, munching on some shellfish.