As we were getting ready for our Misty Fjords excursion, I took this photo of the anchored Coral Princess and a Promech Air floatplane. The Coral Princess also sails the Panama Canal.

I was standing in the same spot where the previous photo was taken but with my back to the water. This is a classic shot demonstrating good cause for a powerful zoom lens. The bald eagle’s head blends in with the yellow house. Our PowerShot G2 has a zoom length of only 102mm (35mm equivalent). If we’d had a 400mm lens, this could have been a remarkable photo. If we ever have the pleasure of visiting Alaska in the future, I intend to be armed with a good zoom lens.

Ketchikan was covered with bald eagles. In this photo you can see five bald eagles diving for fish scraps. According to our tourguide, some of the bald eagles actually drown because they sink their talons into dead fish or fish parts that are too heavy to pull out of the water and are then unable to pull their talons out of the fish.

Here’s the actual floatplane that flew us over and into Misty Fjords. The plane is a DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter. An attendant is refueling the plane. Oddly, the plane was uncomfortably hot inside and noisy, too. We wore headphones and listened to a pre-recorded narrative of our trip. Breathtaking views awed us during our hour in the plane, which made the excursion worth its price. Our excursion to Mendenhall Glacier cost about the same as this excursion, though we spent under thirty minutes in the helicopter at Mendenhall.

I took this photo from my seat aboard the floatplane as we made our way toward Misty Fjords. The person pictured here is a fellow passenger. The pilot, not pictured here, was sitting on the left. This photo was taken late in the afternoon on June 6, 2003. We were a long way from our hometown of Buford, Georgia, USA.