However we did get to see a lovely sunrise and watched the four cruise ships come into Skagway early in the morning. No getting off here.
This was the Disney cruise ship. I overhead someone saying they thought they should try and 'clean up' the Red Onion Saloon that was a Brothel Museum.
Again, another beautiful day - how blessed we have been. We have had comments that we are lucky that the weather is good because it wasn't always like this at various places we have been. Today we were told that it is more rare to have a sunny day than a rainy day - and that is what we got.
Lovely waterfalls.
Again, the whales put on a show - didn't come as close today though.
We arrived in Haines at 8.30am and after sorting ourselves out at the hotel went down to the information centre as we had looked through the tour books you can pick up and wanted to get more information about a wildlife center that sounded a bit like a zoo.
The lady at the information centre was very helpful and rang them for us and then drove us down to the boat harbour where the buses wait for people who have come from Skagway from the cruise ships to go on tours. We then jumped on a bus with about 10 others to go to 'Kroschel's Wildlife Center'.
Wow, little did we know what we were in for. We were welcomed by Oliver with his eagle.
Steve Kroschel is a Director, Camera Operator, Cinematographer, Producer, Screenwriter and is still doing this work and is called on for help with filming animals. Oliver has written books and helped with film work as well.
Next we met the 'Isis' wolf who was loved like a dog and acted like one too.
Here the porcupine is letting people stroke it's fur - it's quivers are closer to the skin. Someone is holding flowers for it to eat.
They look cute but are quite big when they stand up.
Here is a fox with beautiful colouring.
A Marten which is part of the weasel family.
It was amazing listening to these two guys interact with each other and watch them interacting with the animals. They had both developed very strong bonds which were evident in the way the animals let them handle them.
They often built up the suspense of what they were about to show us next, this was the mean dangerous animal that we all needed to be careful of - a wolverine named 'Banff'.
Steve K. handled it like a big dog. In fact the wolverine kept wanting 'kisses' from Steve and played with it's teeth around his neck but without biting. He explained that from a young age this wolverine had been treated with nothing but love and that by peering into it's eyes and showing love it was similar to the hormones a mother and child share. Hard to believe unless you saw it.
This porcupine likes cashew nuts.
This marten would run through pipes that were around the place and then pop up here when offered food - you had to be really quick with the camera.
Next it was the moose (mooses or is it meeces?), these ones are just young and were happy to be hand-fed. They were in what looked like a small enclosure but it was just somewhere they could get to from the river and they knew they would be fed. So although different in lots of ways from a zoo it had some likenesses in that the animals did end up in an enclosure - large as it may be.
People were invited to come up and kiss the moose - Steven was first in line.
These are caribou (or reindeer as they are known in America - also known as domesticated Caribou). You can just see their 'velvet' that is peeling away from their antlers. Apparently is considered an aphrodisiac in some countries. As the antlers lose their 'blood' the velvet peels away.
This is a mink.
This is a very old fox.
Another Martin that likes strawberry jam - on a stick.
We then went down and met the brown grizzly bear "Kitty" who was having a swim in her big lake. They got her as a cub who was orphaned and said she wouldn't be able to be released as he wouldn't know how to survive on her own.
She was not far from us and entertained us by blowing some bubbles.
She then came up closer so that she could be given some feed. They have electric wire and can just move that around to change the enclosure every now and then and she will not go near the fence.
It took a while to spot the Lynx at first as he was hiding in the leaves.
But then he was happy to come out and pose.
"Hey, could the big guy at the back - move up the hill scuffing his feet in the dust...the Lynx will follow the movement & sound" Steven did as he was asked & the Lynx's head followed him - yum dinner :P
Once again magnificent scenery on the way back. The bus driver was full of information and gave fantastic commentary about the animals, people and areas all the way there and back. He had also gotten us snacks for the trip home.
The salmon were spawning in the shallow water.
This is a fish-wheel. The salmon get caught up in the basket which then channels them into containers. The fishery guys come and count how many salmon have come through and then release them. They do this periodically so they can get an average idea of how many salmon are in the area.
When we got back to the boat harbour we walked back to the hotel and saw this eagle on the rocks. Apparently he is a 'resident' of the area.
Steven showing off the beard he has been growing since his last shave on the wedding day.
The view again without 'people' in the way.
The dark clouds can be seen rolling in.
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