Sunday-July 16-Day 26- Wonder on the Water

This morning we were picked up at 9 AM at our campsite to go to the dock for our Glacier and Wildlife Cruise today.
 Our catamaran was the Valdez Spirit.(Stan Stephen Cruises) The crew was so accommodating to our needs! Steve was winched down a steep ramp backwards to get to the boat.

We left the small boat harbor at 10 AM for an 8-1/2 hour cruise.

The first wildlife we saw was this eagle peering at us from his perch on a rock.

Stellar Sea Lions were resting on what is called Center Island.
This little spot was a marker for the boats going in and out of the harbor.

The beautiful blue/green water again put us in awe.

Captain Allen piloted our ship. He was very personable and friendly. He narrated the trip most of the way out and back. We learned so much!  And when we saw wildlife, he would turn the boat so that Steve could see from his window seat on the main deck, since he was not able to maneuver freely through the cabin as the rest of us could.

For the first several miles, in the Port of Valdez, there were lots of fishing boats, catching their fish with nets.  The salmon are running so they were fishing for Pink Salmon.
Looks like a good catch to me!

We  again saw some beautiful waterfalls,
tumbling down of their own free will, over the mountainside.

On this picture you can see the tide line. The colorful ribbon on the waterline is different kinds of algae, visible when the tide is out. The tide rises 12-24 inches.

The narrows.

Reflection

The scenery was spectacular as we cruised out 60 nautical miles.  A nautical mile is 1.15 miles.

The Meares Glacier was our destination. This glacier is 1 mile end to end, 250 feet high and we were about 1/4 mile away from it in the picture below. It goes back into the mountain 13 miles.
It truly was an optical allusion.  It was so big, that the size and distance played havoc with our minds. It was hard to believe the statistics, but we knew they were true.

We hung out here about 30 minutes. We watched the glacier  calve just a bit (no big action today), and listened to the low thunderous noises created by the glacier. We also watched the 
Harbor Seals playing in the icy waters and resting on the ice bergs.

Here is an upclose picture. The bluer the ice, the more dense it is.
At one of the interpretive centers I read a statement about snowflakes having the power to change  the landscape.
Now who would believe that?
But that is exactly what glaciers are and what they do.  They are simply snowflakes that have not melted, and have compacted together to form huge masses of ice that move the landscape.

Some of the ice bergs were crystal clear and a beautiful blue hue!
Because of the density of the ice, 90% of the mass is below the surface of the water.

The crew netted some ice and brought it around to show us.
 It was very clear, and they also said it was pure.

We saw quite a bit of sea life.  These are the darling sea otters that spend all their lives in the water and most of their lives floating around on their backs. They are so cute, I think they would make fun pets!😀

Waiting for lunch to be served at noon -thirty. (never heard that term before!) They provided a delicious hot meal of chicken and rice with alfredo sauce, steamed mixed veggies, a roll and cookies.  All day, coffee, tea, water and lemonade were available.
At 5 PM we were served a cup of vonderful goot clam chowder and crackers. It hit the spot because we were cold from being outside. When the boat was stopped it was lovely out there, but when the boat moved it was chilly!

We saw a lot of porpoises playing around the boat.  But it was so hard to get pictures because they were so fast, and we never knew quite where they were going to jump out of the water.
Here's a fin!😊

This is the part of the back of a humpback whale. He was far away, and was not nearly as active as the porpoises,
so this is the best I could do! 😒

 The congregation of the noisy, argumentative Stellar Sea Lions. 

The Chuach Mountains, layered with clouds and snow.
So massive! So far away!

We also learned about the 1964 earthquake, (9.2 on the richter scale)  whose epicenter was right near Valdez, and decimated the city, as well as the Valdez oil spill of 1989, and the Alaska Pipeline which is celebrating 20 years since completion.The oil from the pipeline goes out from the Valdez Port in huge oil tankers.

Water has a way of providing the blessing of relaxation! And we certainly enjoyed that today!  We were dropped off at our motor home at 6:45 , grabbed a snack and sat down to watch the church service from this morning.  But we could not get it online , as evidently it is not yet archived, so we watched the VBS clips stead.
It was wonderful day of informal worship and rest!