Whittier, Prince William Sound Cruise

July 9, 2009

Today we traveled the short distance to Whittier to take another glacier cruise. To travel from Portage to Whittier you must pass through a 2.6 mile toll tunnel called the Anton Tunnel shared with the Alaska Railroad.

When there is not a train using the tracks, other vehicles can use the single lane and go south on the half-hour and north through the tunnel on the hour. There is a campground in Whittier, but we love where we are at Williwaw so drove the 10 minutes to the tunnel in the truck, paying a toll of $12.00. This tunnel was built in 1941 by the U.S. Army for the railroad during WWII to bring in supplies for military bases in Anchorage and Fairbanks. In 2000, they began to allow vehicles through the tunnel on a schedule as mentioned above. It is an amazing engineering feat with bare rock sides.

Despite the smoke from the 41 fires still burning in Alaska, the scenery is still spectacular with glaciers, tall mountains and water falls on all sides. We boarded a very nice tour boat with Prince William Sound Glacier Cruises and headed out for a 4 hour cruise into Blackstone Bay to visit the 6 glaciers located there. This area is surrounded by the Chugach National Forest, the second largest national forest in the US, and three of North America’s major ice fields. It was a beautiful, warm day, perfect for being on the water. As we set sail we were treated with a yummy crab cake lunch. We cruised past Shotgun Cove and Decision point and turned into Blackstone Bay. The views were breath-taking. Blue ice was everywhere as well as dozens of cascading waterfalls. We found Harbor Seals lounging on icebergs near Beloit Glacier and on the way back we came across a “raft” of sea otters. It was difficult to say who was more curious, us or them, as we starred at each other. We also went into Shotgun Cove and sailed right up to “Secret Falls.” It is difficult to see unless you are facing head on. There are so many great places to kayak here because of the calm waters and numerous beaches. They even have a kayak taxi service from Whittier if you don’t want to paddle all the way to your favorite cove. All in all, it was an interesting and enjoyable day. The crew on the boat was knowledgeable and we learned a lot. Tomorrow we try a different tour company for a glacier cruise through Port Wells, College Fjord and Esther Island. The captain said that they expect the smoke to start clearing in a day or two, so we are hoping for great views.