7-19 & 20-2013 So Much to See in Prince William Sound and Alyeska

The last few days have been a whirlwind. We left Talkeetna and headed down to Anchorage. There is a large variety of sights to see and things to do.  Friday we headed down to Whittier to cruise on Prince William Sound and see many, many glaciers, about 30 maybe more. They say that Alaska have approximately 10,000 glacier, too many to even name.  

We traveled along the Turnagain Arms Passage on our way down to Whittier.   Captain Cook (You remember him.  He was everywhere.) tried to navigate through the passage but every step of the way he had to “turn again” thus getting its name Turnagain.  It is not a navigable waterway because it is so shallow and filled with glacial flour. When the tides are in, it appears to be a wide open seaway, but it is very shallow and not meant for ships to sail through.

The mountains surrounding the passage are beautiful.  There were many glaciers to see on the way down to Whittier.  To get to Whittier you have to pass through the longest tunnel in North America.  It is 2.5 miles long, single lane and you have to share the tunnel with a train.  The train gets precedents.  South bound on the half hour, north bound on the hour, unless there is a train coming.

The weather in the Sound in normally overcast with rain.  When we arrived it was true to form but by the middle of the day it was nothing but blue skies.  Our destination on the cruise was to see Surprise glacier. There were many animals as well; seals, sea lions, a whale, sea otters and a few bald eagles. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their time on the cruise, even Emorie. There were so many beautiful vistas. We will let pictures speak for themselves.

Male sea lions are huge!

Sea otter doing the back stroke.

We actually saw Surprise glacier calving!   Part of it dropping into the Sound.

Seals sunning on small icebergs.

On Saturday we headed back toward Whittier to the town of Alyeska. There is a tram that takes you up the mountain to an overlook of glaciers, Turnagain Arms and the surrounding area. We had lunch, did some hiking and thoroughly were in awe on the magnificent views. 

Jonathan left his autograph in the snow.

The peonies are so pretty up here!

On the way back, we stopped at a few turnouts to watch some folks salmon fishing and see waterfalls.  It was another beautiful day not only weather but family time as well.