A Whale of a Tale 2013

Friday morning about 6:30, this is the view out the door of out 5th wheel.  The water is the inlet from Prince William Sound to the commercial docks in Valdez.  No sense fighting the weather, it seems to always be overcast on this shoreline.  I’m very happy the water is so calm as today we are scheduled to spent about 12 hours on a glacier tour.

We are now on the boat sailing out the same inlet, our camper is the white one, a splash of blue shows the truck.

Lots of critters to be seen, these are Sea Otters, there are a great many of them.  Their job seems to be related to a dogs, they float on their back and watch the world go by.

Of course Sea lions have a much more strenuous duty, they are tasked with guarding the shipping lanes!

 

 

 

 

Soon we see ice, calved off of the Mears Glacier which is 15 miles up this Fiord.  Our tour guide notes that since the ice is ‘dirty’, it must be very fresh.  This berg is about 100’ long, remember that 80% of it is below the water.  The face of the glacier is on the shore line.  Contact with the 34° water constantly undermines it, causing huge block to cleave off or ‘Calf’.  The small dots on the picture on the left are seals resting on the ice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of our folks were lulled to sleep by the gentle movements of our catamaran style vessel.  Anne-Marie wore a patch and was not sick!

 

Proof:  Anne-Marie is shown here holding a fragment of the glacier that was fished out of the water, yes it was cold!

 

 

 

On the trip back, we did see several humpback whales one of which was a calf with it’s mother.  They were difficult to photograph as we never knew where they would appear, often they were at a great distance of the other side of the boat.

Our friends Jack and Betty Dostie captured these to ‘Tail Shots’.  We saw the action but my lens is not as good as theirs.

About 16 of us walked a few blocks to Mike’s Restaurant where we had a very nice meal and shared Fellowship.  Tomorrow is a day off after which we will travel southwest to Tok, AK.  Our 257 mile trip starts with the 7.5 mile 8% drive up Thompson Pass.

 

 

 

 

Valdez, AK 2013

Sorry, I just noticed that the post under this one is a double from last week.  I have no clue on how to remove it at this time.

The road to Valdez was 260 miles, that doesn’t seem to tuff does it?  Well the first 100 miles was in fog so dense we never got over 30mph.  The rest of the trip was often on 8% grades which limit this fellow to 40mph up and down.  There was also road work being done, which converts the road into 1 way, often in 10 mile stretches.  This can burn 45 minutes of waiting if you hit it out of cycle. 

These spectacular Mountains are about 100 miles east of us.  They are referred to as The Alaskan Alps.  As usual the best pictures are obtained using this hyper-link.

Thompson’s Pass is a few miles out of Valdez, this Bridal Vale waterfall is one of several.

 

 

 

 

When we got to Valdez, I was more than surprised to find this picture in The Connecticut Freemason Magazine.  My Masonic friends should note that the title is a typo, I am not a R.W., rather I am proudly a W.B.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seward, AK Life in the rain :-( 2013

 

As we approached Seward on our 200 mile relocation from Homer, we had a few miles of clear views of the lakes and mountains that lined our roadway.  When we arrived at Stoney Creek RV Park we were in the rain that has continued for most of the last 2 days.  Most of the campground in this area groom their sites with crushed stone, this is a good thing as using ‘dirt’ would become mud!

Still no satellite TV, we do have cable here.  If you want to watch network news in the evening, you have to tune in at about 2:00am due to the time difference!

It cleared for a few hours at mid day Saturday, we went to the Alaska Sealife Center, think Mystic times 2.  This is a learning center that specializes in the sea creatures indigenous to Alaska’s waters.  The health and welfare of the seas creature's is very important to the local economy as the fishing and tourist industry is a major revenue source.

We had a ‘Behind the scenes tour’ which focused on their studies and work in rescuing injured mammals.  The fellows on the right are recovering and will be released soon.

This guy was at the entrance to the public displays, he is constructed of flotsam which consists of mostly plastic trash which is a very real hazard to the creatures.

Yes, they have exhibits. Anne-Marie amused herself petting the various star fish and small critters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I preferred to watch the Harbor Seals that swim with such ease.

When we went outside, we were greeted with a ‘clearing up’ shower.

 

 

 

Things have been worse here, much worse!  In 1964 the worst earthquake ever to his the United States struck the area of Alaska.  The destruction was almost complete and the area has never recovered to it’s original status as a major port.  Below is one of the few building from that era.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, we did find a nice spot for lunch!

Palmer, AK 2013

We were pleased to have our Special Friend Amanda travel with us on the 200 mile trip from Homer to Palmer, AK.  She always adds to the smiles in our group.

Our trip retraced some of the roads we took last week on route to Homer.  At that time is was overcast, this trip the weather was at about 80% which seems to be the best one can hope for.  The vistas presented were very different this time as we could see perhaps 50 miles.

 

 

 

We arrived in Palmer, set-up our camp and went to The Noisy Goose for dinner with a large group.  I had great Fried Chicken and Anne-Marie had a stuffed Baked Potato, very satisfying.

This morning, we went to the Palmer Information Center for a presentation.  This city of 6,000 was started as a C.C.C. project of the Roosevelt Administration.  About 350 families were relocated here and given 40 acres of farm land to develop.  The government held $3000 mortgages, the city thrived as a result of increased activity due to WW-ll.  Home to the Alaska State Fair later this month, they are proud of the locally grown products.

This afternoon we toured a Musk Ox Farm.  There we heard the story of the repopulation of these critters after they had been wiped out by overhunting.  What they lack in beauty the make up for in  fill in the blank !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pot luck Dinner tonight, tomorrow we are traveling to Valdez, AK for more adventures.

Glacier Hike and a Fish Fry 2013

 

Happy Left Handers Day to all the Lefties out there.  Of course all the rest of us are Right!

More best wished to Wayne Rettburg who is still in the hospital waiting corrective measures on his cardio system.

We started yesterday with a ride out to the viewing area for Exit Glacier at Kenai Fjord  National Park.  Despite the fact that it was overcast the view after our 1/2 mile hike was worth the effort.  The trail had lots of folks out enjoying the almost rainless morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sun actually made a brief visit at in the afternoon allowing us to have a fish fry.  We fried up about 50 pounds of halibut that was caught 3 days ago.  Washed down with margaritas, it was a fun event that was a relief from a few days of rain.

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We have 200 miles to drive to Palmer, AK today.  Anne-Marie is happy as there is a Wally Mart there!

Cruise on Resolution Bay 2013

Anchorage Daily News staff

A cruise ship is stuck in Seward until Tuesday, days after its scheduled departure, due to an electrical problem.

On Aug. 8 the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship had an electrical problem with a propulsion motor, the company said in a Facebook posting.

The "intricate repairs" required the boat to stay in port until Aug. 13 instead of taking passengers on a seven-day trip through Alaska's Inside Passage, Celebrity Cruises said.

Customers booked on the cancelled cruising were given the option to re-book their trips or stay on the boat -- in Seward. "One option is for guests to stay onboard during the repair and enjoy all the onboard experiences they have come to expect from a Celebrity Cruises vacation," the company wrote. "For those guests that wish to do so, our staff will do everything they can to make the time onboard as pleasurable as possible."

The ship is expected to sail directly to Vancouver on Tuesday, where it will arrive Friday.

This is quoted from the Anchorage Daily News.  The ship is on the right above in my picture.  The ship on the right is Holland America’s Veedam which is standing by to assist.  Seems that the Cruise lines just can’t stop the bleeding, glad they aren’t flying airplanes!

I took that picture Sunday morning as we departed on an 8 hour lunch/cruise on Resurrection Bay. Seward is about 20 miles from the sea at the terminus of the bay. This bay is more like a Norwegian Fjord as it has tall steep sides that plunge 900 feet deep.  It is a wonderful large port which is open 20 months of the year.

Unfortunately the rainy weather continued to harass us.  Pouring rain forced all but the most adventurism to stay inside on the 2 covered decks.  I went out a few times and got a few pictures.  There was a salmon fishing tournament going on, at least the water was flat for them.

 

 

Harbor Seals swarmed this rock Island!

 

 

The meal served was a buffet of Salmon (What Else) and Prime Rib, which was rare and spectacular.  Unfortunately one of our party does not do well on sea voyages, she recovered shortly after we got back to port.

Seward, AK Life in the rain :-( 2013

 

As we approached Seward on our 200 mile relocation from Homer, we had a few miles of clear views of the lakes and mountains that lined our roadway.  When we arrived at Stoney Creek RV Park we were in the rain that has continued for most of the last 2 days.  Most of the campground in this area groom their sites with crushed stone, this is a good thing as using ‘dirt’ would become mud!

Still no satellite TV, we do have cable here.  If you want to watch network news in the evening, you have to tune in at about 2:00am due to the time difference!

It cleared for a few hours at mid day Saturday, we went to the Alaska Sealife Center, think Mystic times 2.  This is a learning center that specializes in the sea creatures indigenous to Alaska’s waters.  The health and welfare of the seas creature's is very important to the local economy as the fishing and tourist industry is a major revenue source.

We had a ‘Behind the scenes tour’ which focused on their studies and work in rescuing injured mammals.  The fellows on the right are recovering and will be released soon.

This guy was at the entrance to the public displays, he is constructed of flotsam which consists of mostly plastic trash which is a very real hazard to the creatures.

Yes, they have hands on exhibits. Anne-Marie amused herself petting the various star fish and small critters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I preferred to watch the Harbor Seals that swim with such ease.

 

When we went outside, we were greeted with a ‘clearing up’ shower.

 

 

 

Things have been worse here, much worse!  In 1964 the worst earthquake ever to his the United States struck the area of Alaska.  The destruction was almost complete and the area has never recovered to it’s original status as a major port.  Below is one of the few building from that era.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, we did find a nice spot for lunch!