We docked in Skagway early in the morning.  After breakfast, we got off the ship.  There is a bald eagle preserve in the area that we wanted to check out.  After comparing the cost to get there as estimated in Lonely Planet, for a slight premium, we booked a raft float tour through Princess.   This started in the late morning which gave us a little time to wander around Skagway.

As we walked into town, I commented that I bet a place like this has a fudge store.  It just had that look to it.  When we got into town there were friendly folks on the corner to help you find things in town.  I asked the nice woman if there was a fudge store.  I was in luck- there were two!  We wandered around the town and made sure to stop for some fudge (which turned out to be disappointing).  Skagway felt like just a tourist shopping trip and was not particularly interesting.  Our main adventure was the bald eagles and that was up next.

There was a lot of overhead to get to the bald eagle preserve, but it was worth it.   Once we made it there and had lunch, for about an hour and a half, we floated in a large raft down the Chilkat River.  The guide does all the rowing and steering- we are just passengers.  There were six of us in the raft.  We saw 10-20 bald eagles, including one take off from its nest.  It was very neat.  Seeing all these birds in the wild was spectacular. 

The weather was cool and mostly overcast, but with all my laers on, I was comfortable.   We were not getting in the water since it’s a chilly 40F.  We didn’t even get wet.
At the end of the float, they had hot chocolate and cookies waiting for the group (about 40 of us total).  My kind of rafting.
On the ferry back from Hanes, we had another run in with wildlife.  There was a humpback whale that was using its tail to confuse fish.  It does this by crashing its tail into the water surface.  We watched this for several minutes before it was out of view.  Soon we departed the ferry and returned to the ship.  We showered, went for dinner, caught some music onboard, and went to sleep.