Posts Tagged With: Stellar Sea Lions

Alaska

Girdwood, AK. Thursday August 29

A most interesting day. You will get your fill of animal and scenery pictures. Thursday was dedicated to one activity, a five hour boat cruise out of Whittier in Prince William Sound. But first, we had to get there. As noted yesterday, Whittier was not inviting as a lodging option. We are staying in Girdwood, about 45 minutes west of Whittier. The challenge in reaching Whittier is that if you are coming by car, you have to use the Whittier Tunnel. There is no other option.

The tunnel was constructed during WWII for railroad traffic and only much later converted to combined rail and auto traffic. And I mean combined. It is one lane wide with trains and autos using the same path. To enter Whittier from the west, you line up and wait for the tunnel to allow east bound traffic at 30 minutes after the hour. To leave Whittier, you line up and wait to enter the tunnel at the hour. If you miss your time, you wait an hour.

It should take 45 minutes to reach the tunnel from Girdwood. We allowed an hour. But, experienced travelers that we are, we missed the turn-off! We were zipping along when suddenly the road signs just seemed wrong. No cell service to check on Google maps. We decided we had to re-trace our steps. Going speeds I have not reached since the wide open spaces of west Texas, we reached the line at 10:35. Luckily at that time there were enough cars that the line was long and the tunnel was still open. Close call.

Logistics of the day: Boat, Lunch (plus a kale salad not in the photo), Seats (Top deck, front row, right by window) Chris at the far right front

Our cruise was with Phillips Cruises for a five hour journey on a new boat. They assign seats and since we had booked back in March, we had prime seats in front, by ourselves, looking forward, right next to windows in front and to our right. For the next five hours we took in magnificent scenery and a long list of sea animals. Once out on the Sound, the smoky haze was minimal. Whittier and this area of Alaska receive huge amounts of rain and snow but today was clear. Temps were in the high 50s, we did not need the extra gear we brought to stay warm on the water.

Glaciers

A U.S. Forest Service Ranger from the Chugach National Forest was on board providing narration. The Chugach is our second largest U.S. forest and includes huge swaths of water surface within its boundaries. He discussed glacier formation, the weather, the impact of climate change and the dramatic shrinking of the glaciers.

Glacier calving: Breaking off top, splashing bottom

Waterfalls

Alaska water falls that seemed so puny before were dramatic in height as water from melting snow and glacial ice poured down tall mountain sides.

Stellar seal lions

I could discuss the habits of Stellar sea lions and the other animals; we picked up fact sheets on all of them. But I won’t except for a few brief comments here and there.

Sea otters at play

Sea otters in Prince William Sound

Sea otters were almost hunted to extinction. Their pelts are amazing in their ability to resist water and keep warmth. If you want to be disgusted, read a history of how they were hunted and natives here treated.

Dall’s porpoises

The porpoises were the highlight. They buzzed the ship. They dived and splashed. They went out and “played” with the humpbacks whales. There must have been at least ten of them. Porpoises are fast. It was hard to take a photo; by the time they jumped out of the water, they were gone again.

Harbor seals in Prince William Sound

Humpback whales

This is not the season for orcas, so humpbacks were the “only” whales we saw today.

We did not bother taking pictures of bald eagles. Kind of ho-hum for a couple from Minnesota.

This was the Alaska of our imagination. A great cruise. A lucky day weather wise. A wealth of wildlife to observe and glaciers to marvel at.

Oh, we have canceled our first night in Cooper Landing due to fire issues. Our river rafting excursion has been canceled also. Still debating the next two nights in Cooper Landing and our three days in Homer. A Homer cancellation will hurt; we had splurged on an air trip over Cook Inlet to Lake Clark or Katmai National Park. They are remote and only reached by air or boat.

Alaska

Ed and Chris August 30. 3:30 AM