Alaska Summer Solstice Cruise - Valdez, Alaska

Cruise Day 6

Friday, June 14, 2024

Today we are deep into the Prince William Sound visiting Valdez.  Valdez is the southern terminus of the Alaskan oil pipeline and the site of the infamous oil spill in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground and dumped a million gallons of oil into this pristine wilderness.  In 1989 the local, state and federal agencies were complacent and ill-equipped to deal with such an environmental catastrophe, but today things are different with very strict safety measures and crews and equipment always standing by in case of another spill.

The red marker is Valdez at the northeast corner of Prince William Sound.

Valdez is located at the head of a deep fjord on the northeast end of the Prince William Sound.  It has a population of about 5000, but during the winter it drops to about 3500 as many of the seasonal tourist workers leave.  After a beautiful sail in through the Prince William Sound, we arrived in Valdez around noon.  Our weather luck continued, and it was sunny and actually quite warm for the area.

Prince William Sound is in the middle right of the picture.  Valdez is the far right red marker and the other red marker is the Columbia Glacier that we'll visit today.

 

 

The captain opened up the bow of the ship for our sail into Prince William Sound.

We will be turning right after the outcropping and into the fjord that leads to Valdez.

Valdez

Our tenders will take us into that inlet straight ahead and then to the right into the small boat harbor.

We wait to board our tour boat while our tender heads back to the ship to bring more of us ashore.

Today we booked a ship’s tour that will take us by boat to the Columbia Glacier.  We reported to the World Stage just after we arrived in Valdez to check in for our tour.  Today is another tender port and our group was the first to leave.  It was a short tender ride to shore and and a short walk to our waiting tour boat.  The boat was quite large and would hold 150 passengers, but we were told that there would be 138 of us today.

Val and I quickly found some seats, and then went out on the deck at the bow of the boat.  Even though the day was sunny and mild, Val and I were dressed warmly with several layers including our heavy coats as it would get quite cold out on the water, especially when the boat was moving.

We're on our way.

Across the bay from Valdez is the terminus of the 800 mile Alaska pipeline that carries oil from Prudhoe Bay in the North to Valdez where it is loaded onto tankers for shipment to the US.

We were soon on our way out into the Sound heading towards the Columbia Glacier.  We didn’t go directly there though as we were also looking for wildlife.  We immediately spotted some otters out in the water and then also some sea lions cavorting as they swam around the boat.  We also saw some puffins and many more sea lions basking in the sun on the shore.

There were lots of sea otters around.

Lots of puffins, but they kept their distance from the boat.

After wandering for a bit, we headed off at high speed towards the glacier slowing only to make our way through several ice fields.  This is where it got pretty cold, and Val and I decided to go back inside as it was time for lunch anyway.  We were served a light lunch of chowder, bagels and some cookies for dessert.

You don't often see clear ice floating.

After lunch, Val and I went back out on deck and claimed a good vantage point for viewing the glacier, but as we got nearer the area it got colder and colder and both Val and I were freezing so Val went back inside.  I was determined to stick it out as I knew when we got closer to the glacier, everyone would rush out and good viewing spots would be at a premium.

Sure enough, as soon as the Columbia Glacier was in sight, everyone rushed out and I wondered where Val was.  I was busy viewing the glacier and taking pictures of the amazing scenery when I looked over at the railing closest to the glacier and there was Val with a great spot along the rail with a better view than I was getting.  I had stood out there freezing to keep my good spot and Val had just walked out and found a better one, oh well that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Anyway, the Columbia Glacier was amazing, but it is receding quickly.  It used to extend twelve miles further out than it does now and it will soon be gone.  We spent quite a while viewing the glacier and then started back to Valdez.

Along the way, the captain spotted a humpback whale breaching off in the distance and headed off to see if we could get closer, but though we saw a couple of spouts we never did see the whale so once again we turned toward Valdez.  This was a long six and half hour trip and we didn’t get back to Valdez until evening.  It was warm in Valdez and after our cold boat ride, it felt very good; someone said it had gotten up to seventy today.

This was a great day, and I would highly recommend Star Stephens Glacierand Wildlife Cruises out of Valdez.  The boat is very nice and while I complained about the cold, it was very nice inside the lower and upper cabins.  The crew was great, and the commentary was interesting and entertaining, we had a wonderful time today.

By the time we took the tender back to the ship it was 7:20 and our dinner time was 7:30, so we quickly cleaned up and changed our clothes and made it to dinner just a little bit late.  It doesn’t matter that much if you're not exactly on time, but we were hungry and anxious to eat.

Since we would be in Valdez until eleven, the casino was closed tonight so Val and I headed back to our room after dinner.  I downloaded the many pictures we took today, and we spent some time looking at them before calling it a night.  Tomorrow we’ll be cruising the Prince William Sound and going up College Fjord where we will view the Harvard and Yale Glaciers.