Friday, July 22, 2011 Valdez, Alaska

Oh Dear, I did it again - took tons of pictures but I had very good reason.  We took a 9 hour Meares Glacier Cruise in Prince William Sound.  It was a gorgeous day.  We saw snow capped mountains, glaciers, various sized islands, Stellar Sea Lions, Humpback Whales, Sea Otters, Orcas, Dall's Porpoise, Harbor Seals and many different birds.  Our young Lady Captain did a great job heading the boat to wherever we saw the whales or orcas.  She was a terrific tour guide throughout the entire trip.  When there was a lull in activity, we were served a very nice lunch and later a snack.  We left the dock at 9:30 and didn't return until 7 p.m.  It was late but that was okay w/everyone as we got to spend more time watching the sea life as well as the Glacier cracking.  It didn't quite calf but we did get to see a lot of small clusters of ice fall into the water.  She also gave us the history of the l989 Oil Spill.  According to what we heard from many people, the beauty of the sound, its wilderness quality w/the glaciers, high mountains, lush forests, thousands of bays and many islands, is almost back to normal including the quality of the water.






The sea otters were so cute just lying on their backs and floating.  There were a lot of babies next to their mom's.










We saw several groups of Orca's.  The first group were just traveling through the area and didn't want any part of us; however, the second group were native to the area and played around by the boat.  There are always a couple Sea Lions on Buoy #9.  As we got closer to the two glaciers, we saw a lot of ice in the water.  Some of them are very large but only takes 24 hours to melt in the water.  Our Captain had to maneuver the boat over and around the glacier ice pcs.











You can see how clear and calm the water is w/the reflection of the mountain the water.  This Orca had a 6' tail.















We got as close to the Meares Glacier as l/4 mile.  That seems far away until you are just about ready to hit it.  It was 250' in thickness and as the ice was cracking, it sounded like gun shots and thunder.  We were hoping to see it calf but we only saw small clumps hit the water.














Sea Lions and Otters took advantage of the ice.

















After dinner, we took a ride out to a Salmon Hatchery.  When you have fish in the water, you also have Eagles and Bears.  We were so excited to see a 3 year old Brown Bear come out of the woods, cross the road and go into the water for a salmon.  He again, crossed the road so he could eat in peace.    Down the road, Papa Bear decided to make his exit out of the woods.  He; however, was happy eating berries and grass.  They were not interested in us,but then again, we were ready to bolt whenever either of them looked at us twice.







Bruce found paw prints in the dirt and they were definitely from the 600# Bear.
With the sun being out all hours of the night, we haven't
seen any sunsets.  This was the first we saw in a long
time. As you can see, we had another fantastic day.  Hope you did as well.