The first sunny day in over two weeks! A perfect day to take a day cruise out on Prince William Sound. To get to Whittier which is where the tour starts, one has to go through a 2.5 mile long tunnel. West bound traffic goes through the tunnel on the hour, east bound goes on the half hour. The tunnel is shared with trains (not at the same time, thank you very much), so you get to drive on the same roadbed. It didn’t look any different than what you drive over an intersection with train tracks. Made for a little squirrely driving though, since you are driving parallel to the tracks, not perpendicular.
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| Lots of charter boats for salmon, trout and other fishies. Also many commercial fishing boats. |
We were on a large catamaran with 350 of our best friends, most of whom were Japanese or Korean. It was an excellent cruise with a Chugach National Forest (the second largest National Forest in the country) ranger providing narrative on all the glaciers, the history of the area and the varied wildlife. And she kept telling us how lucky we were to have such a beautiful day. Apparently, there are only about 15 clear days in the area during a summer season. I think they should have a truth-in-advertising blurb on the pictures they show of Alaska – “This picture was taken on one of the 15 clear days this summer. Do not expect comparable results when you visit.” We saw a humpback whale, sea lions, otters, bald eagles and lots of birds.
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| Most of the glaciers we saw were tidewater glaciers- they terminate in the ocean. |
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| The glaciers all come from an icefield that is part of the Chugach Mountain Range. |
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| Entering College Fjord. All the glaciers are named after Ivy League colleges. The mountains and glaciers are 35 miles away. The ranger said it was highly unusual to be able to see all the way down the fjord. |
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| Cormorants and Steller Sea Lions. |
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| The sea lion population has declined by 80% in the past 20 years. The scientists don't know why and, thus, they don't know how to reverse the trend. There is speculation that the marine food chain has been disrupted by pollution and warming waters. |
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| The highest mountain in the Chugach Range is visible today! |
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| This glacier is over a mile wide at the bottom. |
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| At the turn of the century, these three glaciers were merged and extended much further out into the fjord. The big bare area was also completely covered with glacier ice. |
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| We could hear the boat hitting the ice chunks (they aren't called icebergs unless they are really big). I think the closest the boat was allowed to get to the glacier was about 3 football fields (300 yards). |
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| Glimpse of a humpback whale. |
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| These sea otters can get as long at 7 feet and weigh as much as 70 pounds. The older an otter, the whiter his face. They are actually pretty curious critters and looked like they were waving at us as we stopped to watch them. |
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| Russ verifying that the boat captain was on the right road (Alaska Maritime Highway). |
Rather than race to get back through the tunnel at the next opportunity, Russ and I walked around Whittier. That took about 10 minutes as there is only one street and a couple small side streets. There is one large 14 story apartment building from the 1960s which houses about 95% of the residents of Whittier. We had dinner at a very nice restaurant right on the harbor area and watched fishing boats going in and out. We made sure we got through the tunnel before 11 pm because if you miss that last scheduled release, you get to spend the night in Whittier.
Tomorrow we leave for Seward and, hopefully, another beautiful cruise – this one in the Kenai Fjord National Park.
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