Anniversary Cruise

Day 67 – Sunday, August 18

What an appropriate day for a Cruise of Prince William Sound!  It’s our anniversary!!

Here’s a picture in front of the Meares Glacier, in my new alpaca sweater that Jim surprised me with this morning!  It was a spectacular day full of magnificent sights.

We boarded the boat this morning at 9:30 am and didn’t return until after 6:30pm, so it was a full day of sightseeing and adventure.   Our main destination was the Meares Glacier, but we were able to take in quite a few sights along the way.  It was raining a lot of the morning, but didn’t dampen Captain Randy’s description of the Port of Valdez, and Prince William Sound.  He served as a great tour guide, giving a lot of detail about the area, and pointing out things along the way.

We got to see the pipeline terminal and the recovery ships that still are in a readiness state in case there is a new situation that requires attention. You could see where the oil comes down through the pipeline to the terminal, where it is either loaded onto ships for transport, or to silos for storage.  The area around the oil terminal is “protected water” marked by yellow buoys to keep marine traffic at a safe distance.  There is a stiff fine for passing the buoys, and immediate removal of your vessel from the water.  (We stayed clear of the buoys!!)    Here is one of the buoys that marks the waterway…being tended to by harbor seals!

Captain Randy pointed out Bligh Reef, the rock hit by the Exxon Valdez in the 1989 Oil Spill.  The spill went south, and did not impact any of the shoreline that we visited on our cruise.

We saw quite a few eagles, Otters, Kittiwakes, Puffin, Sea Lions, and Seals. 

As we got nearer to the glacier, we saw chunks of ice floating in the water around us.  We began to see more and more chunks, and they began to get larger.  We saw a huge one, and watched it turn over in the water as we passed by.  The Captain had to be careful to navigate among the ice chunks –occasionally we could hear them bang against the boat, and there were even a few discussions about the Titanic!!! 

And, then we turned the corner and saw it….the Meares Glacier.  It is a huge wall of ice (about a mile wide) with a bluish hue that extends right into the turquoise water. It is called a tidewater glacier, and is a magnificent sight!  The bluish tint is from newly exposed ice, from calving or breaking up.  The Captain pulled the boat within 1/4 mile of the great wall of ice, turned off the engine and let us float alongside the glacier.  We could hear the ice crack and pop, and watched a small piece of the glacier crumble into the water as the seals lounged on floating pieces of ice.   It was a remarkable sight, and one that we all kept saying “can you believe we’re seeing this?”  Then, an eagle flew overhead, with the glacier providing a stunning backdrop. 

We stayed for quite awhile, listening to the sounds, and admiring the awesome sight of the glacier, marveling at the size, and watching the seals, and scenery around. Words or pictures just can’t describe this beauty of nature!

 

 

The Captain enhanced our trip to and from the glacier by pointing out and explaining some of the commercial fishing going on in the Sound.  The fishing boats use “tenders” to transport the fish back to the port, so that they don’t waste time or fuel by having to travel back to unload the fish.  They empty their boats via a “fish pump” which takes the fish off the fishing boat and onto the tender through a big flexible tube, down a trough into a weighing scale, and then dumped into a refrigerated sea water holding tank for transportation back to the dock.  The fishing boat can continue fishing.  Our boat stopped so we could see the process in action.  One of the deck hands yelled to us  “we’re making money!”

We saw boats with nets out, bringing in a huge amount of fish.  These are silver salmon, that are running right now.  Valdez is also having a Salmon Derby and we hear the fishing has been very good here.

 

 

 

We also saw the Kodiak (one of the boats on the Deadliest Catch) who was operating as a fish tender today.  King Crab season in the Bearing Sea hasn’t started yet, so that’s why the Deadliest Catch boats are here, and not out crab fishing!

What a great day, and a wonderful anniversary celebration!

We closed out the evening with another late dinner, and our Texas friends Patrick and Bernadette treated us to another round of Northern Lights!