We saw Al Gore's glacier. The name of the glacier is Meares. It is an advancing glacier so it calves. Calving glaciers are advancing glaciers. Meares has been advancing for the last 300 years. Meares is 46 miles long. I got some pictures of Meares calving, but this wifi is a funky connection so I will have to wait to upload them. the thing that is remarkable about a calving glacier is the noise. We could hear loud crashes, cracks and pops before we would see the glacier calve. We were floating at the front of the glacier is dead silence and would hear these loud noises and then wait to see if we could see the glacier break and calve into the ocean.
We also saw Columbia glacier. Columbia is retreating and has been retreating since 1970. We saw icebergs, many many icebergs. And other glaciers that were in the mountains so we couldn't get to them by boat.
We went on a cruise with Stan Stephen on his boat the Valdez Spirit. The boat is 4 years old and very comfortable. The cost of the 9 hour cruise is $126.80 for adults and $67.40 for children 12 and under. Despite my apprehension about getting sea sick, I had no problems. I was even able to have 2 meals on the ship. I did take Bonine before going out.
There were humpback whales!!, stellar sea lions (no idea why they are stellar), harbor seals, lots and lots of sea otters, puffins!, cormorants, and a bald eagle and her nest. We were cruising within Prince William Sound which is a huge area.
Just after seeing Meares glacier, there was a long wistle which alerted our captain that there was something wrong with one of the engines. The water pump had gone out. We proceeded very slowly on one engine while Stan went to fix the water pump. He eventually fixed it.
Stan is very knowledgeable about the area so he tells us about the animals, glaciers and points of interest as we floated by.
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