Anchorage

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Anchorage

We had intended to get up early to see some of the sail down Cook Inlet but had already arrived in Anchorage when we got up around 6AM. There were some lovely views of snowcapped mountains in the distance and it looked like it was going to be a great day. In the distance the sun was pouring down on snowcapped peaks that looked like they belonged in Alaska, while we were waiting to catch a view of the sun. Also in the far off distance Sharon believes she caught a glimpse of Mt. McKinley, which can be seen on a clear day. We had clouds overhead but in the distance the sun shined brightly, so we had high hopes for the day.We had breakfast in the Lido (Sharon had Waffles again and John had fried eggs) They were working on our cabin so we decided to head up to the Crow’s Nest until time to leave for our tour.

We had originally booked the Spencer Float and Rail tour which was a train ride with a stop at Spencer Glacier for lunch and a raft/float trip on the lake there before re-boarding the train. However, we received a note in our cabin the day before that the float part of the trip had been canceled because of flooding in the area. We didn’t want to spend 10 hours on a train. So we changed to the Prince William Sound Wilderness Explorer Tour.

We met our tour on the pier about 9AM but had to wait for the last 5 people who were a bit late. Our bus driver was an older woman who was originally from Pennsylvania but has been in Anchorage area since the early 60’s. We headed out along Turnigan Arm (named for Captain Cook who came down it looking for the Northwest Passage but had to Turn Around Again). By an Indian restaurant facing the sea, was a BBQ place that gave everyone a chuckle, The Turnigan Arm Pit. Sharon had been down this road on her 3 previous trips but this was the first time to see Beluga whales. Ok you don’t see much of them as they just kind of skim across the top of the water but it was exciting and the driver said she hadn’t seen them for quite a while. The scenery was beautiful as the sun was out but there were some small layers of fog on the water as we approached the Portage Area.

We needed to make the 10:30AM tunnel to Whittier. It’s a one-way tunnel that is open on the ½ hour to Whittier and on the hour back. It used to be a Train Only tunnel. Sharon remembers her first cruise 25 years ago that ended in Whittier. They loaded them on school buses which then drove up onto flatbed train cars for the ride thru the tunnel and then on the Anchorage. She’s going to try and find the pictures of this when we get home. On the other side of the 2.5 mile tunnel, the longest in North America, we found ourselves in Whittier, and soon at the pier. Our boat, the Nanutuk, was ready and we boarded.

Shortly after boarding we approached a granite facing cliff where numerous birds were nesting, and many more in the water. These we discovered were black footed kittiwakes of the gull family, (for my Uncle Neal they are Rissa trydactyla… with Latin names like that, no wonder birds are related to the dinosaurs). Sharon and John both got a couple of Cokes and chips and Reese’s peanut butter cups from the galley, which were very reasonably priced considering the closed venue (total under $5).

Next we came across a couple of small rock outcroppings big enough to allow a couple of dozen sea lions to bask in the sun. One particularly large male (they get up to 2,400 pounds) was perched at the twenty foot summit of the larger tiny island, while most were on the far side ramp to his perch. Our boat came within 1,500 feet, the limit allowed for approaching wildlife, but another smaller craft had crept once closer. People need to be careful not to spook the wildlife: the sea lions might all try to return to the sea and in the rush get hurt on the rocks in the shallow waters.

We then made our way around Esther Island and up the narrow Esther Passage where there is the potential for bear sightings, but we didn’t see any bears. We then zipped across the open water between Port Wells and College fjord. We saw several smaller rafts of otters, and the captain told us we would stop to see them better on our return. Nearing noon, the crew served us an Alaskan crab cake lunch, with roll and veggies, with tartar sauce and butter. The crab cakes were small, very crisp, and quite tasty. Sharon was able to pre-order the chicken which she thought was very good, considering the alternative.

We approached Barry Glacier straight in front of us, which back at the turn of the twentieth century had split into two additional glaciers, Cascade Glacier to the left, and Coxe glacier to the right. The melting ice retreating from the sea had separated them into three early in the twentieth century. We learned that there are four types of glaciers: Tidewater Glaciers which flows into the ocean and is confined by mountains, as is the case with Coxe and also the objective we seek Surprise Glacier; Cirque or Alpine Glaciers are the smallest types of glaciers formed high in mountain slopes and reside in bowl-shaped depressions in the mountain sides; Valley Glaciers terminate on land and are confined by the mountain as they flow downhill; and Piedmont Glaciers are similar to valley glaciers except that they spread out onto adjacent flat land. With ice chunks, or bergie bits, in the water, we made our way up the final fjord to our objective. Numerous tiny water falls descended from the glacial ice above.

The wide expanse of ice of Surprise Glacier, with its jagged and craggy face extending up out of the sea was impressive to behold. Our guide told us to look for the harbor seals on the flotilla of ice along the shore and increasing in number and size in the waters that we were carefully snaking our way through to the glacier. The objective was to get within one-quarter mile, and immense size and height of the glacier wall grew ever more impressive. Be began to hear the sound of ice cracking over the ridge as this glacier ice from above descended the fjord on the other side of the one we were exploring. And then it happened, a few small pieces of glacier slide from the face and a few bergie bits were born. Our guide, a slender college age gal said, even though from the distance they appeared almost negligible, they were each probably the size of Sharon and I together, which I guess was her subtle way of saying that the bergie bits were quite large. And then it happened again, slowly at first, but then a wall of ice perhaps seventy five feet high and two hundred feet across slid with a groan into the sea, splashing magnificently, and setting in a motion a wake that rolled towards our craft. The captain then had a crew member retrieve some glacier ice that we could touch. Before we departed, we saw a couple of additional small ice chunks calve from Surprise Glacier.

On our exit from the fjord Sharon got a great shot of a Harbor Seal on a larger ice chunk. The captain then pointed out some red necked phalaropes (phalaropes lobatus). And now the part that Sharon’s friend Lin has been waiting for: Otters. We slowed and stopped for a raft of six otters that was passing by our craft. They were floating on their backs, eyeing us carefully, with their hind feet sticking out of the water. One swam away briskly, doing the backstroke, and paddling on his back, seeming to push the water behind it as his rear feet quickly pushed him into the distance.

We didn’t get to the tunnel in time to get the number one spot, and had to wait for all of the cars ahead of us to go ahead. Two minutes earlier and we would have had priority. On the road back we spotted some cars stopped on the side of the road, and then we saw the three large moose in the meadow-like lowlands away from the ocean.

We got back aboard the ship about 6:30PM and got up to dinner about 7PM. I had the assorted veggie appetizer with prosciutto, cold coconut soup with yogurt, prime rib with horse radish, and the chocolate trio dessert (chocolate corn flakes, white chocolate mousse, and chocolate cake). Sharon had the beef and vegetable soup with meatballs, prime rib, and baked Alaska. The cordial of the day was a chocolate delight with crème de cacao, Irish crème and Frangelico. And the complimentary shot glass was clear. All in all a great day in Anchorage.

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