Saturday on the water

Some sun, some clouds...lots of mountains.

We had a gorgeous, sun and part-sun filled weekend.  Sunday it was so nice outside I would have sworn the temps were in the 70s (they weren't, more like upper 50s).  Saturday morning we went on the Berners Bay cruise sponsored by the Audubon Society (a fundraiser).  Then there was a garbage cleanup at Auke Rec beach followed by a cookout and bonfire with students.  Sunday Steve had to work, so I spent most of the day with the Irv doors and windows open, doing some major spring cleaning inside and out. 

Here's some pictures from the cruise.  The cruise this year was good.  We saw 8-9 humpbacks, seals, sea lions, more birds than I'll ever remember the names of, and lots of pretty scenery.  The volunteer guides this year were really good, with lots of stories about the history of the area, including three shipwreck sites we passed.  I also learned that Admiralty Island (the biggest island near Juneau - it's ~96 miles long and 26 miles wide at the widest point) has the highest density of brown bears in the world - 1 per square mile!  There's only one permanent settlement on Admiralty, a small village called Angoon.  A lot of people go hunting and fishing on the island, but you need a boat to access it.

Stellar sea lions at a haul out on small Benjamin Island (HRD processed)

A trio of humpbacks.  We saw ~8-9 total.

Tail up means it's heading on a deeper dive.  This is a humpback.

Lions Head mountain, lit by the sun.  This mountain is on the far side of Berners Bay.

Rocky intertidal zone, Eagle Glacier in the back left side.

hot off the press!

Steve passed his personal trainer certification test!!  Way to go Steve!  :)

Happy Easter!

The scenic Juneau airport, looking south-east(ish)

Happy Easter!  We went to a friend's house Sunday morning for Easter brunch (oh, such good food!) and then since the weather was fabulous, we took Seca for a walk at a new trail (for her)...the airport dike trail.  There were lots of dogs out walking, so she was happy.  The trail is through the marshes just underneath the 'normal' approach to the airport, so we got to see some small planes coming and going.  It would have been neat to see one of the big ones land, but we weren't there at the right time, I guess. I think we have one of the most scenic airports I've ever seen. :)

Looking left (northeast) from the airport hiking trails.  Mendenhall glacier is visible just above the trees in the center.

After the walk, we still wanted to play outside so we drove out to Eagle Beach for another walk, this time without Seca since she was pretty wiped out after the airport trail.  It was windy, but still warm, out at Eagle Beach, and the tide was coming in fast.  In fact, it was coming in so fast it's a good thing we were paying attention.  Steve was standing on a high clump of sea grasses and shells, watching the water creep in, and finally jumped off.  About 5 minutes after I took the picture below, that clump of high ground was surrounded by ~20 feet of water!  Granted, it was shallow water, but still deeper that you'd want to wade through with just shoes on.

Today there's Easter eggs hidden all over at school. :)  My favorite day of the year. 

Adventures this summer

I'm so frickin' excited!  I just got notice that my airline tickets for the first of two summer adventures have finally been purchased.  In June, I'll be volunteering for a sablefish survey that will leave out of Unalaska, Alaska (aka "Dutch Harbor" to all the fans of  the popular crabbing drama, Deadliest Catch).  This is the same survey I went on last summer, but I'm on Leg 1 this year, which starts in Unalaska (a $1400 rt airline ticket ride from Juneau), fishes for ~14 days, then returns to port in Unalaska to pick up a change of science crew.  In the map below, the yellow triangles are roughly where we'll be sampling.  Starting from Unalaska (the leftmost village circled in RED), we sample counter clockwise.

THEN, in late July Steve and I, plus Dad and Barb, will be taking the AK state ferry from Homer to Unalaska, with stops in a bunch of villages in between.  The round trip (Homer-Unalaska-Homer) will take about 6 days.  We have a stateroom booked that will sleep four for the trip.  The only two cities we spend a lot of time in will be Kodiak and Unalaska (~6-8 hours each).  The rest of the villages (listed on the map) are shorter 1-3 hour stops, which is just enough time to get out and maybe walk around the port a bit.  I am so excited for both parts.  Of course, I'll take a million pictures, and we'll bring the GoPro along too for some video.  We'll probably see lots of whales, sea lions, various birds, and (I hoping) some bears in Kodiak when we stop.

This is apparently my summer to see most of the Aleutian Islands!

Volleyball

I'm on a co-ed, recreational-league volleyball team this spring.  The season is almost over, and Saturday was the first day of playoffs.  We're a pretty good team, but really inconsistent, in terms of playing skills (game to game, even) and showing up for games. I think we technically have 5 men and 5 women on the team, but we usually struggle to get 5-6 to show up (and there's sex ratio limits to what we can play a game with).  Sometimes that's frustrating for me, though in most cases people miss because they travel for work, so it's unavoidable. 

Team Rougheyes (that's a type of rockfish).  Blurry photo though...sorry.

Anyways, we made it to the second day of tournament play (tonight).  If we lose another match, we're out.  And I suspect we'll lose tonight, unfortunately.  One of our tallest, best players will be out of town tonight, and honestly, the other teams that have made it to tonight are all really, really good teams.  But, even if we're done after today, it was a fun season!

Sunday it was pretty warm out - like 53 - so I took Seca for a walk at the glacier while Steve was working.  This is from the boardwalk, our favorite salmon and bears-eating-salmon watching spot in the late summer and fall.  No bears there now though!  We're just barely starting to get green in some places where all the snow is gone, and Auke and Mendenhall lakes are still both frozen over.  But, you can feel spring in the air!

Steve at the gym

UPDATE:  I took a picture of Steve before class today.  I thought it would be weird to take a picture during class, so you can't see him in all his energizer-bunny-mode glory.  He's generally got a crazy amount of energy that early in the morning, bouncing all over the class and encouraging people.  Sometimes he cracks me up so much that I laugh out loud...

Steve has been studying for several months to take his personal trainer certification test.  Right now, the test is scheduled for early May.  This week, he started shadowing a certified trainer at the gym - to see how they work, make sure he likes it, and learn about the things you don't get out of the study books.  So far, he says he likes it!  I keep trying to get him to practice on me...but it hasn't happened yet.  :)  He's also still teaching two Insanity classes a week, and is getting really good at teaching.  I'll try to sneak a picture of him teaching on Friday to post!