The drive from Anchorage to Whittier is about an hr and half. To reach Whittier, you have to drive through the Whittier Tunnel, which is the second longest highway tunnel and longest combined rail and highway tunnel in North America. Since it is shared by eastbound, westbound and Alaska Railway, it follows a strict schedule. The speed limit is 25 mph and passing through it, I was reminded of the long, musty smelling, Konkan railroad tunnels of Mumbai.
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| Display by a humpback whale on the way. |
We had booked a Prince William Sound day cruise with Major Marine. Unlike some other large vessels, this is a fairly small one, which means at any time the deck is never over crowded with people and there is plenty of room to walk around inside. The crew are also friendly and they try to keep you entertained at all times :)
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On the way there, we also saw a lot of bald eagles, sea gulls, and otter chilling out in the sea...The ship passes through Blackstone Bay and we saw the towering glaciers looming up against the vessel. Two of the active glaciers we saw were the Blackstone and Beloit Glaciers.  Above: Beloit and Blackstone Glaciers. Below: Blackstone Glacier  We spent about 30 minutes watching and listening to these beauties calving slowly right in front of our eyes. It almost sounded like thunderstorms at first, followed by a loud crackling, followed by a big chunk of ice splashing in the water...It was breathtaking!  As we headed back, the clouds cleared up, the water colour changed to a beautiful turquoise and we saw many small waterfalls.  We stopped by a famous one, called Surprise Falls (below), named because of its secret location.  All in all, a great day! Next destination: Clam Gulch! |
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