26-Glacier Cruise Tour

Wednesday morning we ate a quick breakfast in the hotel then headed south to Whittier, which is on Prince William Sound. I had booked this 26-glacier excursion based on positive reviews and it didn't disappoint. The drive to Whittier was cloudy, but the tide was out in the Turnagain Arm beside the highway.  The water was so calm we could see the reflection of nearby mountains as if in a mirror.

Because of the low tide we could see the mud flats, and over a dozen bald eagles fishing right beside the road. Here are a few of those sightings (the darker bird in the first photo is a juvenile bald eagle).

To reach Whittier you have to go through a one-way tunnel shared by trains and automobiles.  It is 2.5 miles long, the longest highway tunnel in North America (photo below). Traffic is controlled on each side so you can only enter when your side is released, about once an hour. We made the 9:30 release and were in Whittier a good 90 minutes before our tour. 

With little to see in this industrial port, we stopped at a local cafe for coffee and a snack. Lunch was included with the tour, and I had already scoped out a good fish & chips place for dinner. We used Phillips Cruises for this tour and they were wonderful – very hospitable and well versed in the science of glaciers. In five hours we saw over 20 glaciers up close and personal. Unfortunately this was the one day on the trip that it rained. The comfortably furnished boat is enclosed, but when we went out on deck to take pictures we about froze from the wind and the rain. 

You can see in this picture how bundled up we were. The glaciers were stunning and the wildlife (otters, seals, mountain goats, eagles) equally outstanding. 

Every so often you could hear the glaciers "calving," a sound like thunder. This happens as old ice slides off into the water – pushed by new ice forming behind it. It looks like the glaciers are dirty in some spots, but that is just rock and soil picked up and trapped along the way. 

The crew served a scrumptious salmon chowder lunch and I tried a Glacier Ice Margarita. As you'd expect it was made with glacier ice (the clean ice I hope). It was pretty good. Here's a few photos from the tour. Unfortunately these pictures don't capture the vibrant color of the ice, which is a cerulean, almost aquamarine blue inside. The gray skies meant that the glaciers tended to blend in with the background. The glaciers leave chunks of ice in the water that float off as icebergs. We sailed through fields of icebergs, which made me more than a little nervous. You can see a few pictures of the harbor seals and sea otters below. 

After the cruise we drove a few blocks to the Swiftwater Cafe for lightly breaded, non-greasy fish & chips. So delicious! I can highly recommend this place, which is fairly reasonable by Alaska standards – $50 for both of us (including a glass of wine). After dinner we made the 7 p.m. tunnel release and drove the 30 minutes or so to Girdwood/Alyeska. I'll write more about this in the next post. Stay tuned...

To see the rest of the post on our trip to Alaska check out the sidebar menu to the right of the first post.