The next stop on our journey is Valdez ( say “Valdeez”). Our plan was to drive there on Tuesday and
take the Glacier Cruise on Wednesday.
When we called to reserve the cruise, they said Wednesday was almost
full but Tuesday was barely 1/3 full.
Problem is we needed to be there by 9:00 and we had over three hours to
drive. The alarm got set for 5:00 so we
could get ready and go before 6:00. Good
thing the sun doesn't really set up here so we had plenty of light to break
camp. We actually were on the road at
5:30. We got to Valdez in time to park
the RV and catch the shuttle over to the ship.
We boarded at 9:30 and it was a good thing they had plenty of hot coffee.
By the way, did I mention that Valdez is back in the
rainforest? It rained off and on most of
the 9 hours we were on the cruise.
Luckily almost every time we went out on deck to observe something, the
rain seemed to subside. We sailed past
the oil pipeline terminal that Valdez is famous for. They are shipping out less than half as much
oil today as when the terminal first opened.
They don’t know when, but eventually it will be shut down.
The cruise is primarily to look at glaciers but you get to
see plenty of marine wildlife along the way.
We encountered Sea Otters, Stellar Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Dall’s
Porpoise (who played at the bow as we were underway), and several sea
birds. Of course there was the regal
Bald Eagle as well.
The highlight of the cruise was the Meares Glacier. As we approached the glacier, the captain had
to pilot the ship around several large icebergs and then push the ship through
a vast ice field. You could hear the ice
as it clanged against the steel hull. We
were rewarded with an up close and personal view of the glacier. We got to within a few hundred yards. Close enough so you could hear the roar of
the ice as it broke away from the glacier.
We all were amazed at how blue the ice is.
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