The Best Alaska Day!

Today Larry meets us at the front gate, we are headed to Whittier, with him and Sara, to see the glaciers.

We are scheduled for 12:30 pm trip with the 26 Glacier cruise. Its 5 hours aboard a 3 story catamaran. Jet propelled.   http://www.26glaciers.com/

We are assigned a table at a widow on the lower deck. A Cod and chips lunch is served nearly immediately.  Our server is David from Gainesville, GA.
As I entitled this; it was our best day for viewing nature since we've been in Alaska. Besides glaciers, we saw hundreds of seals, and otters, Orca and Beluga whales. Cruised through ice fields with small ice bergs to get close to the blue tinted glaciers.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE MAGNIFICANT SCENES WE SAW:

Don't forget to click on the photo to get a full view.

Along the Seward Highway, headed to Whittier

 Famous TurnAgain Point..we saw dozens ofBelugas and Orcas on the return trip.

 Near Girdwood,AK, the ski resort on Mt Alyeska is here

 A glacier moving down a mountain

 A crater glacier, one of the 4 different types

 To the right of the last waterfall is a crevice going up the mountain. This was a result of the 1964, 9.2 earthquake.

 The town of Whittier. 4 streets, a few shops, lots of recreational and commerical fishing boats at dock and on land. Everything was boarded up after Sept 15th. How'd you like to live with a glacier hanging over you??
After the 1964 earthquake, it was hit by a 57 foot wave.

 Inside the tunnel between Whittier and the Seward Hwy. The walls are the actual rock. The one-way tunnel, opens to the other lane every 15 minutes. They stage you in up to 8 lanes, space the cars. The train also uses this tunnel, you drive over the tracks. All car traffic is stopped while the train goes through.

 Sunset along the Seward Hwy. This is when we saw the whales, as the tide was coming in and nearly high.

 The Largest Choclate "Waterfall", liquid, pumped continually

 Hows this for a bear trap!!!! photo of Anchorage under it.

 A grizzly greets you as you enter the Sourdough restaurant.

 While being staged for the tunnel, we saw this Porcupine..it would barely turn its head to see who was taking its photo...a shy guy

 While staged for the tunnel, we saw a glacier already.

 Ginger and Larry at Shotgun Cove, above Whittier. A beautiful stream flowed behind us. A month earlier, and we would have seen it loaded with Salmon.

A seal rookery..the little seals were hopping on and off the rock..

 Seated at our table. It was very comfortable. A U.S. Park Ranger was on-board to narrate.

 The dark areas are where 2 glaciers collide, pulling dirt and rocks where they meet.

 Note the blue of the glaciers

 The water here is clear because there is not sediment flow from the glaciers. As winter comes, the water will clear thoughout the area.

 We watched for "calving", but only saw small chunks fall off.

 A small iceberg..remeber only 15% of it is above the water

 Crewmen net a clear chuck of ice from the ice field. It will be used for drinks at the on-board bar.

 Sara enjoys her glacier ice margurita!!

                  Awesome Blue

 Dirt and rocks in the iceberg....the otters were laying on these .

 This is the Princess Diamond. It is preparing to board 2,000 guests for a trip to China. They will board at the terminal in Whittier.

Yes this is Alaska, not Hawii!!