Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

Another glorious day, the air as delicious to the lungs as nectar to the tongue. ~John Muir

Steve and I spent yesterday on a Stan Stephens catamaran (a very large catamaran), cruising out to Columbia and Meares glaciers, and enjoying the many sights along the way. It was a perfect day for cruising, with abundant sunshine, encounters with wildlife, and spectacular scenery.

The day before the cruise (Sunday) was a wet one, with rain falling from the time we woke, until later in the afternoon. But when the clouds finally cleared, and the rain stopped falling, we did as so many others - we went out for a nice walk around town.

Some of the shops were closed because it was Sunday. That was surprising, as I assumed that since it was the tourist season, they’d be open. Remember the days when nothing was open on Sunday?

We stopped to watch two little boys fishing in the pond near the Convention Center. The older brother, all of about 6, pulled a small fish (it looked like a trout) from the water and did a ‘touchdown’ dance when he placed it in his bucket. His parents watched from a picnic table and we all laughed at his expression of joy.

We then stopped in at the Ferry office. The Ferry (Alaska Marine Highway) out of Valdez can take a person in a variety of directions via water. We picked up the summer schedule to get an idea of where it goes, and how much it would cost us to ride it - comparing the price of taking the truck and camper, or just taking my car. We think we might like to visit Cordova sometime - so Steve can fish for some Copper River salmon, and I can photograph a new location.

We walked back past the Marina, but there weren’t any boats in from their day at sea yet. By the time we got back to the camper, it was time for Steve to head back over to Allison Point to try his hand at fishing for silvers again. I stayed here and watched some TV, with the heater going, as I have a chill I can’t shake. Must be the damp weather.

I took photos from around town:

We set the alarm for 6:30am yesterday morning, so we would have time to get some breakfast before boarding the cruise boat. The first thing we did upon waking, was look out the window to see what sort of day we were going to have. The sun was coming up over the mountains, and burning off the fog which lay over the duck flats.

We chose Totem Inn for breakfast, as we always do when we’re visiting Valdez.  Totem Inn serves a typical diner-type meal and is always full during the breakfast hour.  We lingered over coffee, eggs and bacon; reading the Anchorage paper, and watching the Olympics.

We boarded the Valdez Spirit at 10am, along with about 60 other folks. This vessel was absolutely gorgeous - and just built in 2005. There was plenty of seating both inside and out, and we choose to sit on the lower level and indoors, away from the cold wind blowing when underway.  We had an entire table to ourselves - as did most passengers, which allowed us to stretch out and keep our camera gear within reach.

The price of this cruise - 9.5 hours out to both Columbia Glacier and Meares Glacier - included lunch and an afternoon snack. Lunch was a chicken breast served over rice and covered in alfredo sauce, with a side of vegetables (green beans and carrots), and a dinner roll. Dessert was a small package of Oreo cookies. The snack later in the afternoon was a cup of either clam chowder or minestrone soup with oyster crackers. All day long there was complementary coffee, tea (flavored tea too), lemonade and water.  You could also purchase cocoa and cider, as well as soft drinks, snacks, and candy.

They offer a 10% military discount which is nice.  With the discount, the total price (including tax and fees) was $129/pp. Kids are about half price. While $129 isn’t a drop in the bucket, I felt it was a fair price for a day at sea, with wildlife and glacier views. Especially since the sun shone on us all day long. If it were raining, or the seas were as rough as they were when I went out with Michele and Maddie in Seward, I might rethink the fairness of that price. *grin*

We saw eagles, plenty of seabirds (puffins, cormorants, murres, gulls), sea lions, seals, otters, and - on the way back - whales. We didn’t see any major calving of the glacier, but there were a few small avalanches and chunks of ice falling.

We stopped to watch some commercial fishing vessels pull in their catch. It was interesting to see them pull in their nets, using a skiff to pull one end of the long net into a circle with the huge boat at the other end. Once the nets were pulled into a circle, the bottom end was cinched by pulling the bottom rope with a winch. Then the circle was made smaller and smaller, as the fishing boat started pulling in its end of the net. Finally, the catch came into view; thousands of jumping and flapping pink salmon. The fish were pulled over the side of the boat and dumped into a holding area, below deck. (A highlight of our trip was seeing the “Time Bandit” vessel - known from the show “Deadliest Catch”, which we are huge fans of.)

We made our way up the fjord leading to Columbia Glacier. We couldn’t get up to the face of it, because huge chunks of ice have been falling off of it regularly, as it recedes. These large icebergs or ice floes, are a serious deterrent to any large scale vessels. We did see one small boat making its way between the bergs, a man videotaping the glacier as a means of recording the size and movement.  This glacier is on a serious retreat, according to scientists.

The captain of the Valdez Spirit stopped to pick up some items from the man in the smaller boat, before we turned and headed back down the fjord to Prince William Sound. Our next stop was Meares Glacier, and as we made our way through the smooth water, lunch was served.

Meares Glacier’s face is about a mile wide. It’s an advancing glacier so it is scouring the shoreline - pushing trees out of its way as it moves forward. Unfortunately, besides a few small avalanche type calving episodes, we didn’t see anything spectacular. We did, however, see quite a few seals, sunbathing on the huge ice floes, and laying close to the face of the glacier.  We hung out there for about 20 minutes in hopes of seeing a huge calving, but it didn’t happen.

On our way back to Valdez, we stopped at Bulls Head to see the sea lions. I estimate that there were close to a hundred sea lions lounging around on the rocks, or showing their dominance by growling and barking at one another.

As we made our way through Prince William Sound, an announcement finally came over the loudspeakers that a deckhand had seen a whale spout off in the distance. The captain made his way quickly to that area, and slowed the engines as we approached. We all stood out along the rails, scouring the horizon for the telltale sign of whales: towering spouts of water, much like a fire hose.

We were rewarded with dual spouts! Two whales, swimming side by side (mother and calf?) were just in front of us. We all stood poised with our cameras waiting for them to make an appearance.  Soon, we were rewarded with the sight of tail fins as they made a deep dive into the water.

Generally, when you see the fins, it means the whales have gone deep. It can take about 4-8 minutes before you see another spout, but if they’re really interested in what’s on the bottom, they can hold their breath for up to 20 minutes. We waited…

About six minutes later, a spout appeared again. We followed them, as they swam beneath the surface, coming up to breathe every half minute or so.  And then they dove again - allowing us a beautiful view of their tails as they disappeared beneath the water.

I decided to move down to the lower deck to set up for their next appearance, thinking that we wouldn’t see them again for several minutes. I wasn’t the only one who let her guard down.  All of a sudden, both whales jumped high into the air, from deep below the water! I have never seen a breaching whale, and it was the most spectacular thing I have ever witnessed!

Unfortunately, no one on the boat caught the event with their cameras, but we saw it with our eyes and it was a WOW moment! Afterwards, the whales continued to play. While they didn’t do a complete breach, they did push their heads straight up out of the water and flop over to their side, making huge splashes where they landed.

We ended our trip back to Valdez with the escort of Dall’s Porpoise, swimming and jumping alongside the boat for a few minutes, before turning off and going elsewhere.  All in all, it was the perfect way to spend a sunny day in Valdez.

I would highly recommend cruising with Stan Stephens, if your travels bring you to Valdez.

In closing, I want to thank those of you who were sending good vibes that Steve would catch himself a silver salmon (especially Lynn!). He finally landed one tonight, and ate a good portion of it for dinner too! Here’s Steve with his catch:

We leave for home tomorrow. I can’t believe our vacation is just about over. I am so happy we chose this week to spend in Valdez - especially with all the sunshine we had. I hope that we are able to take some of this sunshine home with us to Fairbanks/North Pole. I don’t want to go home to rain.

Keep your fingers crossed that we were chosen for the Denali Road Lottery. The results should come out any day now. We’re holding our breath in anticipation.