7/1/04 Glacier Cruise/Whittier

This past week Rod and Gail, some friends of Cecelia’s from Maine came up and we took them on a 26 glacier cruise out of Whittier. Their first couple of days here were spent in the rain and fog, and I was beginning to worry that they would go home thinking that Alaska looked much like Iowa. We finally got to see some sights on the cruise, so we were saved.

We’ve had a lot of forest fires up here this summer, so there’s been a pretty constant haze which you can see in the following photos. At one time, there were over 40 fires burning in the state. Fortunately, the nearest is a day’s drive away, so we’re not too worried.

The day started off by seeing more Dall Sheep on the Turnagain Arm as we drove down to Whittier. Getting to Whittier was a treat in itself, as we had to go through the Whittier tunnel, completed in 2000. In years past, you had to drive hours and hours inland and then back to the coast to get there. Now it’s just over an hour from Anchorage.

The tunnel is about 3 miles long, and has one lane with a railroad track built into it. Traffic runs one way, then halts and runs the other way, and then the train uses the tunnel.

The cruise ship we went on was a high-speed catamaran, like a smaller version of the new ferry from Nova Scotia, and holds around 350 people. Traveling up Resurrection Bay at 50 miles an hour gave us plenty of time to cover 135 miles in an afternoon.

We saw plenty of eagles again, and lots of sea otters, some floating on their backs with young ones on their bellies. In one spot there were seals that had climbed out on icebergs to sun themselves. We even got to see a mother humpback whale and her calf, and I was able to get a photo of her “spout” and she surfaced. The ship took us through icebergs and right up to the glaciers, one of which was over 100 feet above the water (and 300 feet below).

From there, Rod and I went down onto the Kenai Peninsula to go fishing for King Salmon in the Kenai River. This is “combat fishing” season, and we were always in sight of another 10-15 boats. Unfortunately, I have no photos of salmon, as Rod and I were skunked. The first run of salmon was over, and the second hadn’t gotten into full swing yet. With salmon runs, timing is everything!

There were 4 fishermen in the boat, and both of the other guys got a King, one 35 lbs and a small 15 lb one. I had a 25 pounder on, played him back to the boat and had the guide there holding the net ready when he jumped and spit the lure out. About 1 of every 3 Kings are boated, so I guess it was just my luck.

Ah, well, a bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work!