We then started our Juneau tour with a stop at the Macauley Salmon Hatchery. The first picture shows some of the floating covered hatchery nets where the fertilized salmon roe are placed to hatch and grow in the local waters until they are large enough to survive on their own. They (about 1.3 million annually) are then released to swim out to the oceans and mature. In a few years, when they are ready to spawn, about 15-20% of them will return to the hatchery and swim up the salmon ladder shown in the next picture. When they reach the top of the ladder (e.g. inside the hatchery), the roe and sperm get harvested, the roe gets fertilized and placed into the hatchery nets to begin the cycle again. Of course, the adult salmon are then processed for consumption.
Stop #2 of this tour was at the beautiful Mendenhall Glacier. The view from the Welcome Center was simply awesome - snow covered mountains, big waterfalls, icebergs floating in the water and the glacier - wow! I decided to take the 45 minute (if you don't stop too much) walk to the base of the glacier. About half way there, we stopped for a rest and Kodak moment. When we reached the end of the trail, the view of the glacier was great! Cloudy skies allowed the blue ice to be seen (the sun bleaches out the blue ice). After another 45 minute or so walk back, I re-joined with Susan at the Welcome Center and read about the glacier's history. It sure felt good to sit down in the tour bus!
Our late afternoon last stop was at a Salmon Bake. We were seated outdoors to enjoy the beautiful Alaskan scenery while we were served a delicious meal of open-pit cooked salmon. Yum-yum! We didn't eat dinner on the ship that night.
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