July 12
Our day began with our driver picking us up from our RV park and driving us into Valdez. This is always a plus because it means we don't have to unhook the RV and find a place to park it downtown. On the way into Valdez (pronounced with a long e sound, Valdeez) we learned that this gentleman, named Fred, was also our captain!
The Lu Lu Belle with Captain Fred at the helm.
Heading out of Valdez.
Sea Otters
These steller sea lions must not be able to read! lol
Beautiful waterfalls
More sea lions sunning by a small waterfall.
A tufted puffin.
Ice sculpture
Yes, it is very cold. I have on two shirts, two coats, three hoods on my head, long johns, fleece-lined leg warmers, wool socks, waterproof hiking boots, gloves, and I use Paul's extra coat to wrap up with.
Believe it or not, I met someone I knew on the boat. This lady travels alone in her RV except for her dog and has a blog on Youtube that I have watched since we first got our RV.
She's a little different, but I like her a lot.
These ice blocks get on top of these other icebergs by "flying" through the air, as Captain Fred tells it. It happens when glacier calving (which means big ice chunks break off from the glacier) and drop into the water. They hit other chunks of ice and send them flying into the air and they sometimes land on top of the icebergs.
A better view of the mouth of Columbia Glacier. I think Captain Fred we are about three miles away in this picture.
Getting closer.
And closer.
We're about a quarter of a mile to the mouth of the glacier in this picture below.
Look about middle way of this picture below where you'll see a big crack and an ice wedge that has just fallen. You can see the water beginning to splash where the wedge is meeting the water.
And then in this picture is has completely fallen and the splash is even bigger. You can understand now that if that had hit a block of ice in the water it would have definitely sent it flying.
It looks like a picture from the Titanic. By the time we were ready to leave the mouth of the glacier the water and ice had shifted so much from the calving that Captain Fred had to maneuver very carefully through all this ice.
The blue color of the ice is because the dense ice of the glacier absorbs
every other color of the spectrum except blue—so blue is what we see.
So amazing!
More sea otters sunning on an iceberg.
They are just as curious about us as we are them.
These splashes in the water are Dall Porpoises. That's the best picture we could get.
And no whales did we see at all.
After almost nine hours on the water and ice, we finally see the dock in the distance. By this time I am so ready to be back. We had a great time, but nine hours on this glacial water and ice is enough for me!
After almost four days of rain and overcast skies, the sun came out and gave us a glorious day for our wildlife/glacier cruise. This morning it is overcast and beginning to rain again. Our God is so good! I've thought about my sister, Jearl, a lot today as it was her birthday. I still miss her.
We'll tour around Valdez today and do a little shopping. Blessings to you all!
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