THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 50 July 5, 2009 Valdez, AK Columbia Glacier Cruise

We woke up to a very calm day and as we were going out on another cruise that was a good thing. There was less chance of Rod getting sea sick.

However, before we left we had to say goodbye to Bill and Kathleen Caid, our neighbors at the campsite for the past three days. They are a very nice couple from San Diego who are also spending the majority of the summer in Alaska.

Bill is driving a 1979 1300L Unimog with an Alaska Camper on top. We are not sure where they are going but with that truck they can go just about anywhere they want. It was a pleasure meeting them and we wish them well on their journeys.

After saying goodbye to Bill and Kathleen we headed down to the docks and boarded the boat for the cruise. We were able to take a picture of our campsite as we passed by. That's Bill standing by his truck.

It wasn't long into the cruise that we came across these fellows who seemed right peeved off that we disturbed their midday nap.

The weather continued to hold and the wind remained next to nothing so I started to relax and was able to take the reserved sign off of the bathroom door.

The next group of animals we ran across were the sea lions and there was a bunch of them. In fact we saw quite a few of them during the cruise in different locations. Sometimes there would be a group of them and other times only singles.

The scenery on the cruise was nice but we both agreed it was more picturesque on the cruise out of Seward.

We were slowly cruising along enjoying the scenery when the pilot learned that there were a couple of Humpback Whales up ahead. So he put the hammer down and headed off in their direction. We followed them for awhile as they did a bunch of shallow dives.

Then after they were tired of us hanging around one of them gave us a little wave.

Stuck their tails in the air and went down for deep dive. When they go down for a deep dive they can stay down for up to 25 minutes so we pulled up stakes and headed on down the sound.

We next came to Anderson Glacier and Anderson Falls. It is named after an old trapper who spent a number of years trapping and prospecting over and around the glacier. The falls were pretty spectacular.

Anderson Glacier








After passing Anderson Falls we headed out of the narrows and towards Columbia Glacier and as we got closer we could see ice in the distance. However before we got to the glacier and mounds of ice we ran across these little fellows. A trio of sea otters.

As we got closer to the Columbia Glacier the ice started to take shapes. These are chunks of ice that fell from the glacier and floated out into open water. It was pretty amazing to see all the different shapes and sizes of the icebergs. Not to mention the amount of them.

I have quite a few other pictures of the ice and just might have to put them into a slide show.

Even though I knew going in we could not get any closer than 10 miles from the glacier it was still disappointing. During the last three years the glacier has calved so much ice that it has created a river of ice 10 miles long. This prevents the boats from getting any closer. You can see from the picture below that it would be impossible to even try to navigate your way in to the glacier.

If you look really close you can see part of the glacier in the second picture. It is coming down between the two mountains. This is the biggest glacier in the USA and I am real sorry we did not get a chance to see it close up.

After hanging around the river of ice for awhile we started to head back and spotted more sea otters on one of the icebergs. We eased over so everyone could take a few pictures.

This little guy wanted no part of it: I'm otta here.

We finished with the sea otters and headed for home. There wasn't too much action on the way home and it was probably a good thing. Six and 1/2 hours on the water is a long time. We did however get to see a few more wild things.

Stellar Sea Lion

2 Puffins

????????

We arrived back in port to find this sea otter fast asleep. He was sleeping right at the boat slip and he didn't have a care in the world. He must be retired.

We watched him sleep for awhile and it gave us ideas. So we headed home, had a final cup of tea and hit the fart sack. Another glorious day in the books.