Sunday, August 10, 2008
Cheri Aug-9-08
3:09 AM | 
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were picked up at our park here in Valdez at 9 am and transported 4 blocks down to the docks where we checked in and boarded Stan Stephens 9 hr. Glacier & Wildlife Cruise of Prince William Sound. We rode on a catamaran boat. The waters of Prince William Sound are known as some of the calmest waters in Alaska.
We headed out past the pipeline oil tanks and into the bay. We saw eagles perched high in the trees along the shore. Our guide also took us close to the bank to see the sea lions sunning on the rocks. The male sea lions can average 1,200 lbs and the females up to 650 lbs. They eat during the night, sunning and resting on the rocks during the day. They have been stamped with a number so they can tell where they have traveled from. We also saw a number of horned puffins floating in the water.
We were a few miles away from Columbia Glacier and we started seeing icebergs from the glacier floating in the water. Columbia Glacier is Alaska’s largest tidewater glacier. We were able to get within 500 ft of the glacier. The blue hues in the glacier & icebergs were beautiful. We took picture after picture.
We cruised on around the islands and spotted a number of sea otters. The males can weight 100 lbs. When not eating they float on their backs grooming and resting. We came pretty close to them and it didn’t seem to bother them.
About 12:30 we were all served a lunch of Alfredo Chicken on rice, vegetables and cookies for dessert.
We continued on over to Mears Glacier. This is an advancing and very actively calving glacier. We stopped about ¼ mile from the glacier. The ice walls were 300 ft high. Again the blue hues wee magnificent. It did not calve for us while we were there, but it spit water and little chunks fell off. There were a lot of thunderous noises coming from behind the glacier wall. It was moving somewhere back up the mountain.
There were lots of little harbor seals floating on the icebergs in front of the glacier. They didn’t seem to care that we were there.
Fishing just opened up for the harbor boats and there were a number out in the bay netting fish. We saw the large nets in the water around the boats and we got to see them haul the net in and dump the fish.
At different times during our cruise we had a number of Dall Porpoise swim in the wake along beside our boat. They can swim up to 35mph. They weigh up to 400lbs and are 6-8 ft in length.
We found another group of sea lions on the shore. They were a noisy bunch.
Our captain spotted some humpback whales. They kept popping up and when they’d dive their tales would fly up in the air. We were lucky enough to get 1 picture of the whale’s tale. It is so hard to be quick enough to get any pictures.
About 5:30 pm they fed us clam chowder & crackers for supper. It was very good. It hit the spot. It was chilly out on the water.
We cruised back along the shoreline, checking out the caves in the rock cliffs and saw another eagle.
The cruise was everything we’d hoped for and then some. Getting so close to the glaciers was awesome.
There were a number of people from Germany on our cruise. One couple sat with us. They were touring Alaska in a camper bus that holds 24 people. The front of the bus has the seating and the rear has the sleeping quarters. Their tour goes for 3 weeks and then they fly home from Anchorage. They showed us pictures of the inside of their camper and we invited them over to go through our 5th wheel. We have their e-mail so we can keep in touch. It was interesting talking to them.
For pictures of the day see album: Valdez Prince William Sound
We headed out past the pipeline oil tanks and into the bay. We saw eagles perched high in the trees along the shore. Our guide also took us close to the bank to see the sea lions sunning on the rocks. The male sea lions can average 1,200 lbs and the females up to 650 lbs. They eat during the night, sunning and resting on the rocks during the day. They have been stamped with a number so they can tell where they have traveled from. We also saw a number of horned puffins floating in the water.
We were a few miles away from Columbia Glacier and we started seeing icebergs from the glacier floating in the water. Columbia Glacier is Alaska’s largest tidewater glacier. We were able to get within 500 ft of the glacier. The blue hues in the glacier & icebergs were beautiful. We took picture after picture.
We cruised on around the islands and spotted a number of sea otters. The males can weight 100 lbs. When not eating they float on their backs grooming and resting. We came pretty close to them and it didn’t seem to bother them.
About 12:30 we were all served a lunch of Alfredo Chicken on rice, vegetables and cookies for dessert.
We continued on over to Mears Glacier. This is an advancing and very actively calving glacier. We stopped about ¼ mile from the glacier. The ice walls were 300 ft high. Again the blue hues wee magnificent. It did not calve for us while we were there, but it spit water and little chunks fell off. There were a lot of thunderous noises coming from behind the glacier wall. It was moving somewhere back up the mountain.
There were lots of little harbor seals floating on the icebergs in front of the glacier. They didn’t seem to care that we were there.
Fishing just opened up for the harbor boats and there were a number out in the bay netting fish. We saw the large nets in the water around the boats and we got to see them haul the net in and dump the fish.
At different times during our cruise we had a number of Dall Porpoise swim in the wake along beside our boat. They can swim up to 35mph. They weigh up to 400lbs and are 6-8 ft in length.
We found another group of sea lions on the shore. They were a noisy bunch.
Our captain spotted some humpback whales. They kept popping up and when they’d dive their tales would fly up in the air. We were lucky enough to get 1 picture of the whale’s tale. It is so hard to be quick enough to get any pictures.
About 5:30 pm they fed us clam chowder & crackers for supper. It was very good. It hit the spot. It was chilly out on the water.
We cruised back along the shoreline, checking out the caves in the rock cliffs and saw another eagle.
The cruise was everything we’d hoped for and then some. Getting so close to the glaciers was awesome.
There were a number of people from Germany on our cruise. One couple sat with us. They were touring Alaska in a camper bus that holds 24 people. The front of the bus has the seating and the rear has the sleeping quarters. Their tour goes for 3 weeks and then they fly home from Anchorage. They showed us pictures of the inside of their camper and we invited them over to go through our 5th wheel. We have their e-mail so we can keep in touch. It was interesting talking to them.
For pictures of the day see album: Valdez Prince William Sound
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