To
make things easy,
this story will focus on the glacier cruise and
return to Anchorage on the Glacier Discovery. For the Anchorage
to
Whittier outbound trip, click here.
It happened to be a beautiful
day in Anchorage, all the way to Whittier and out on the Prince William
Sound. Susie Kiger and the approval guy and one station agent bid
the Glacier Discovery farewell.
On the
way outbound, Mount Redoubt is visible approximately 50 miles to
the west.
On
this day, my itinerary is slightly different.
Instead of staying on the train to Grandview, I have been booked onto
Major Marine Tours vessel Emerald Sea to tour Blackstone Bay's
two most major accessible tidewater glaciers. Once the train
stops at
Whittier, cruise
ship passengers and glacier day cruise passengers walk across the road
to
either the cruise ship terminal or the smaller adjacent dock. I
joined a lengthy line and was happy when the Major Marine
representatives called their passengers first. The check-in was
performed by the Emerald Sea captain and cruise director.
Down
on
the dock, Gail asked all passengers to pose for a picture for possible
purchase later in the afternoon. Upon entering the ship's cabin,
Tanya greeted all passengers with a smile. All passengers were
pre-assigned to a lunch table. After all passengers were loaded,
the
announcements commenced.
First
up was Captain Charles Crabough
who explained the particulars regarding the Emerald Sea. She is
100 feet in length, displaces 98 tons and has a 6 foot draft. She
is powered by 3 Detroit diesel Gu71's and can cruise at 14 knots.
This is a fast speed when one is used to 4 to 7 knots as on most
sailboats. As my friend Blackwell says, you can have a lot of fun
at 7 knots. Oh, yes, Captain Crabough announced our destination
of Blackstone Bay where Blackstone Glacier and Beloit
Glaciers terminate. Also, the Captain stated that the bridge would be
available for visitation after lunch. Cruise Director Shea gave
the safety
announcements next and stated that the Emerald Sea contains 154
adult and 16 child life vests, has 9 fire extenguishers, and 2 fire
hoses. The crew performs a man overboard safety drill 2 times per
month. Another important bit of information was one hand for the
boat and one hand for yourself. Again, Blackwell has said on our
sailboat adventures, boat bites happen.
Next
up was Gwen
Herrewig, Ranger Interpreter for the U.S. Forest Service, based at the
Begich Visitors Center at Portage Lake. The main territory for
the
Rangers based in this area is the 5.5 million acre Chugach National
Forest. One third of this forest is ice and snow. Since our
afternoon cruise was taking us to glaciers on Prince William Sound,
Gwen educated
the passengers about glaciation. The grinding action of tons of
ice against rock produces glacial silt which has the texture of
flour. Ranger Gwen also spoke about animal life in the Prince
William Sound environment. Her table had maps, books, a vial with
minute
ice worms, and an otter pelt. The otter pelt has some interesting
qualities including extreme softness and insulation capability.
The habitat for otters is fairly wide ranging. I have seen otters
in Prince William Sound, Ressurection Bay near Seward and the Cook
Inlet.
With
our destination being Blackstone Bay, approximately
22 miles from Whittier, a small amount of human history was
given. There was an explorer named Blackstone who perished in the
neighborhood of Prince William Sound. As he was trapped in a
crevasse, Blackstone wrote a farewell letter to his wife while hearing
his dog howling from above.
The
route traverses Passage Canal to
the east where we see Billings Glacier, named for one of the Cook
Expedition crew members. This glacier is retreating, therefore it
is melting faster than it is advancing. Alaska is known for some
extreme weather conditions and Ranger Gwen pointed out Poe Bay where
trees were blown down by 120 mph winds which lasted for three
days! In early 2005, Anchorage experienced 100 mph winds.
Within
20 minutes of departure from Whittier, the buffet lunch was on
most passengers minds. Major Marine Tours has a reserved seating
system in the Emerald Sea main cabin. Table numbers were called
and passengers lined up for their turn through the buffet line.
Our menu featured bread, salad with a very tasty dressing, rice pilaf,
prime rib, and silver salmon. My plate included everything except
for the bread which I enjoyed through my Alaskan Amber beer.
The
food was delicious.
