Day 80
   
   7/16/01
   Juneau, AK
   
   I cruised around downtown in the morning, next to the docks.
   Unfortunately it seemed to be block after block of t-shirt shops,
   collectables retailers, and souvenir vendors - everything I love to hate. 
   Well, that's putting it too strongly, I suppose, but merchandising is
   definitely not a focal point for me when I travel.  Thus I exited the area 
   and rented a kayak for the day (Juneau Outdoor Center, $35/day single
   seater, $50 dual-seater), and headed away from the city center.
   
   The Gastineau Channel makes for a fine paddling spot, as long as you
   stay far enough from the landing lanes for the float planes.  But
   that's quickly accomplished.  Mussels line the shores here at low tide, along
   with the usual   barnacles and stray fronds of kelp.  Occasionally a
   sea otter would poke his head out of the water, wonder what strange
   kind of animal I was, then return to hunting crabs and whatnot.  Sometimes
   whales can be seen on the southeast end of the channel, but I had no
   luck today.  Good visibility is to be had in the waters, and the rocky
   bed can easily be seen in the shallows.  Just off the pebbly beaches, the
   lush, thick vegetation of a coastal rain forest makes for interesting
   exploring if you like getting up very close for a more microscopic
   view of the ecosystem.
   
   I got to see some interesting wildlife behavior from out on that
   kayak.  As I passed a buoy, I saw a bald eagle sitting on it, alone, 
   surveying the area.  After several minutes, he flew off for whatever
   reason...and immediately, about a dozen seagulls landed on the buoy - now 
   that there was no mortal enemy present.
   
   I continued paddling towards the city, wanting to get a look at the
   behemoth cruise ships docked in port.  I got quite close to one in my
   tiny boat as it towered over me like a skyscraper turned on it's side.  I
   was so dwarfed by the craft that I had a flashback to a similar
   instance I'd had on a bicycle.  On day 20 I was passed by an enormous "road
   train" of a motor home, that outweighed me by about a factor of about
   one thousand; here, the ship outweighed my craft by about one million.
   Six orders of magnitude is a staggering thing to be next to.  It must have
   required the removal of an entire mountain to smelt enough iron to put
   the thing together.
   
   In rough numbers, we have
   
   Them: 50,000 tons of vessel to carry 150 tons of passengers.
   Me: 50 pounds of vessel to carry 150 pounds of passenger.
   
   Of course, I wasn't carrying a racquetball court, nor did I possess a
   Lido deck.
   
   As darkness approached, I returned the kayak and pedaled the 14 miles
   back to the ferry dock.  It leaves at 2:30am, so there were plenty of
   other people piled around the lobby of the terminal trying to stay
   awake in the meantime.  One poor gentleman found this impossible, and began
   emitting among the loudest snores I'd ever heard.  People nearby began
   tittering, amused at the sonic fortitude, and eventually he awoke with
   a snort, somehow vaguely suspicious that he had become a public
   spectacle...but soon conked out again, only to resume his
   performance.  Not long afterwards, other passengers began a similar 
   cadence, albeit at a much lower level.
   
   About this time I noticed a teenage boy, beside himself with the humor
   of the situation.  Oh, there was mischief in that one's eyes, boiling
   up from inside!  Not ten seconds later, he seized a pencil, tapped the
   side of a chair a few times, and then, with an air of pomp, began
   "conducting" his first Symphonic Snore Overture, pointing his
   pencil-baton to each hapless sleeper as they snored as if on cue.
   
   Fame is a ensured for this fellow should he attend large halls where
   boring lectures are in progress.

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