Prince William Sound Cruise
August 7:
By morning we had recovered enough to face a 'sunrise special' at the local IHOP and to drive to Whittier to take the recommended Prince William Sound glacier tour. It was billed as a 26 glacier cruise, closer than Seward, with calmer waters.
It started out with the same highway scenery that we experienced on our first day trip to Seward, but the weather was rainy, cloudy, and grey. We arrived at the tunnel to Whittier hours ahead of time to ensure good seats on the cruise.
As soon as we exited the tunnel, we were in Whittier looking for parking. Once I found a parking spot, I had to download an app (in the rain) to pay for the parking. Now we expected to find a place to eat and a gift shop near the cruise line but it didn't exist, only a small office to deposit our tickets. It was a rainy walk to a café across the parking lot for coffee and a roll.
An hour later we hiked back to the cruise's office, presented our reservations, and were directed to an assigned seat at a small table with another couple, a Jewish Rabbi from New Jersey and his wife, an elementary school assistant teacher. We exchanged Shaloms, talked about our families, and our vacation experiences.
Soon we were out in Prince William Sound to see all of the glaciers.
The Billings Glacier was on our left as we headed for Port Wells. The rain and clouds obscured part of the glaciers. We had been spoiled by the sunny weather in Seward. We passed groups of sea otters in Port Wells in greater numbers than I had ever seen near Monterey CA.
As we approached the Harriman Fjord, we could see the Barry and Coxe glaciers in the distance. Next we veered toward the College Fjord including glaciers named after major universities. Barnard, Hoyoke, and Wellsey were on our left with Harvard Glacier straight ahead. We spent some time cruising near the Harvard Glacier in hopes of witnessing some calving, but today wasn't the day. We had been spoiled by our day in Seward. This cruise was more about seeing a multitude of glaciers rather than focusing on one or two dramatic ones. The cold, rainy, cloudy weather was more typical of Alaska than our day in Seward.
On the way back to the harbor, we saw sea lions on an island, long and narrow waterfalls cascading down snowcapped mountains, and hundreds of birds roosting on sheer cliffs.
Throughout the cruise, Barbara was a trooper still battling a cough and some chills. We both looked forward to better health and weather tomorrow.