When you think of Valdez, what do you think of? Is it the destructive 1964 Good Friday earthquake, measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale and the tsunami that followed which caused the Army Corps of Engineers to move the town 4 miles away? Or, perhaps the 800-mile-long transatlantic pipeline, opened on August 1, 1977, which begins in Prudhoe Bay on the Artic Ocean carrying crude oil down to waiting oil tankers at the Port of Valdez? Or was it the 1989 grounding of the oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez, which hit Bligh Reef, 25 miles outside of the port and spilling 11 million gallons of oil? Whichever you might think of Valdez for, none of them prepared me for the beauty of the area, with its majestic fjord, where the 5,000-foot-tall Chugach Mountains rise from Prince William Sound. No wonder it is often called Alaska’s “Little Switzerland.”
As we neared the town of Valdez, we first stopped at Worthington Glacier. I was so excited. It was the first glacier of the trip! As with most glaciers, it has steadily retreated over the last 150 years, but we were able to hike to the two waterfalls on the left. As you look to the right of the glacier, it looks like lots of dirt. It is! The glacier had a rock slide. The glacier is still underneath it, but we cannot see it. We saw two individuals climbing up its face and then standing at the top. In my photos below, they are only about ¼ way up the glacier.
Due to our revised scheduled, skirting around wildfires and the 4th of July holiday, we only were able to stay in Valdez for 3 nights, but we made the best of it. The highlight of the stay (and for me, the trip so far), was a 9-hour wildlife & glacier cruise aboard the Lu-Lu Belle. We were so fortunate that Greg & Helen volunteered to watch Murphy while Dave and I enjoyed the trip and they went on the cruise the next day. Greg & Helen even took Murphy on a hike! He had a great day also.
We boarded the 83-foot Lu-Lu Bell at 10:30 a.m. and at 11:00 a.m., with Captain Fred at the helm, we left the small boat harbor and motored out to Prince William Sound and surrounding bays. Captain Fred has been running this tour for over 45 years. He narrates the entire trip while expertly handling the boat, especially since he built the boat himself from a hull in 1979.
Not long after leaving the harbor, we saw two fishing boats hired by the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery to deploy a net and see what the salmon count was, to help decide when to open the salmon fishing season in this area. It was fun to watch the boat and a skiff circle the net around, bring in the bottom of the net and then lift it up to see what fish was caught. I am not sure what they were expecting, but it looked like a lot of salmon to me! Maybe they will open the season soon, the fishermen are itching to get out there.
We then started cruising in Prince Edward Sound, first spotting a group of cute sea otters just floating around. Although Captain Fred inched up slowly to them, they decided they would prefer a little more distance and scattered.
Next, a bald eagle was spotted in a tree, so Captain Fred headed over for photos. Then, he saw a spout in the water and followed a mother humpback whale and her calf. They typically are down for 5 minutes at a time and we were able to catch a picture of her “hump” and tail as she dove down.
After “tail time”, Captain Fred headed off in search of puffins in the caves along the cliffs. He expertly nosed the bow of the boat into not 1, or 2, but 3 caves until puffins were spotted. Success! Most of the passengers were on the bow watching him navigate the boat into the caves, some even getting wet from the water dripping from the top of the cave.
We left the puffins to visit a group of sea lions at the beach. They were quite the noisy group. Although hard to see on the picture, there were many pups all in one corner being watched by one mama sea lion. I guess she had nursery duty that day.
Off we went and another whale spout was spotted. We hung around the spot where Captain Fred thought the whale was and just when he gave up and announced we are moving on (and almost everyone had headed back inside), the whale breached and then popped up again. What a sight! I was lucky and got to see him come up the second time. Luckily, one passenger had not headed back and still had his camera ready, which is the feature photo of this blog. Amazing! We hung around a bit longer to see if he would breach again. The whale also stayed in the area but he didn’t breach again.
As we continued motoring, we started to see floating ice and watched as Captain Fred carefully navigated around the ice headed toward the Columbia Glacier. It is one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world, retreating since the 1980’s. Captain Fred noted it has retreated 14 miles since he started doing his tours in 1979. We were able to watch it calve, where chunks of ice break off at the end of the glacier. The ice breaks because the forward motion of the glacier makes the terminus (end) of the glacier unstable. The floating chucks of ice are called icebergs. Boy, this glacier active with so many icebergs floating around that Captain Fred had to avoid. He also navigated to other nearby glaciers that were once a part of the larger Columbia Glacier. We were bundled up and had lots of photo opportunities at the glaciers.
As we headed back to port, the crew timed it so freshly baked, warm brownies came out of the oven as we headed back inside after the glacier visits. Yummy!!! Dave and I also enjoyed hot chocolate.
When we reserved our seats on the boat, it says the cruise can last from 7 to ? hours, just depending on what Captain Fred sees to share with his passengers. We left the dock at 11 a.m. and returned just after 8 pm. – 9 hours! We had it all, whale watching, spotting sea otters, sea lions, bald eagles, puffins and seeing the Columbia glacier. All in the comfort of Captain Fred’s hand-built boat. Greg & Helen had a very similar experience as we did the following day and they even got their picture with the captain. And, Greg & Helen get the credit for all of the up close wildlife pictures. We love their camera lens!
We did stop by a part of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline on our way into Valdez and viewed the oil tanks in the port from the Lu-Lu Belle. Here are a few pictures and information on the very famous pipeline. I hope you can zoom in to read the interesting information.
Thanks for reading this longer blog. The cruise was so much fun, I wanted to take you along on our trip. I added just a few more of Greg & Helen’s excellent photos in closing.
So happy to be back on a boat again Brenda, Speechless Dave, I wanted to go for a boat ride Murphy
Wow!! Amazing and gorgeous!!
Yeah for Greg & Helen’s camera 😊
THX for blogging!!
I can’t believe all the amazing things you saw on your glacier cruise. That must have been very exciting!
Amazing sights!
We could use one of those pipe lines to carry water to California!!
Reta
Like reading a digital National Graphic magazine! Wonderful!!
Wow.
Did Fred the Capt make any statements about what his thoughts are when the subject of “global Warming” or “Climate Change “ comes up. How does he feel about the glaciers receeding.
We were in Joseph, Oregon recently , visiting my older brother Gail. He mentioned ghe glaciers on the wallows mountains have disappeared
Thank you for sharing all the beautiful Pictures and your experiences.
Murphy has taken a back seat on this trip. He is usually more on the forefront in your past posts
Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Amazing pictures! Looks like an awesome time! Valdez was one of our highlights too.