Cruise on Prince William Sound

On July 10 we took the 26 Glacier 145 mile cruise in 5 hours on Prince William Sound out of Whittier, Alaska.  To reach Whittier we drove through the 2.5 mile long single lane Anton Anderson tunnel, the longest vehicle – railroad tunnel in North America.  The cruise was interesting on a large fast catamaran, and we saw glaciers and wildlife we couldn’t see from the highway, however the weather wasn’t great.  We didn’t see most of the glaciers due to the low clouds and light rain.  Please bear with me as I explain something that bugs me about tourist information on Alaska.  What bugs me are the brochures with pictures of beautiful mountains with a blue sky.  What they don’t give you is a realistic picture of Alaskan weather.  Of course this misleading information helps the Alaskan economy.  An example of misleading information is a brochure on Whittier which states that “Whittier has a mild maritime climate with a maximum of 84 F”.  The Milepost travel guide gives more realistic information with the statement that “normal daily temperature for July is 56 F.  For us from PA, a daily temperature range in the 40’s and 50’s with cold rain isn’t great July weather.  However, heat is a relative condition.  To an Alaskan used to sub-zero temperatures this July weather feels hot and we see some wearing sandals, shorts and a t-shirt.  For a glacier temperatures above freezing are too hot.  One of the best indicators of a warming climate is the rapid retreat of glaciers in the north country.  On our cruise we saw an excellent example of rapid glacial retreat.  In 2007 the ends of Barry and Cascade glaciers in a fjord of Prince William Sound were joined.  Today there is a large expanse of bare rock and water between these glaciers and Cascade glacier is a hanging glacier instead of the tidewater glacier it was about a month ago.  My opinion of Alaskan weather is that it appears in most locations during a “typical” summer the number of “blue sky” days can be counted on one hand.  The scenery, when you can see it, is awesome.  On some afternoons the temperature is in the low 60’s and we did experience temperatures over 80 degrees for a few days when we were in Fairbanks.  The interior of Alaska has higher (and lower) temperatures than areas near the ocean.  The annual maximum temperature range for interior Alaska is 100 F to -80 F.  Alaska is not having a drought and a heat wave.  One thing this trip has taught us (that we already knew) is that we don’t want to move to Alaska.  However, if you like cold, rain, snow, wind, mosquitoes and extreme changes in daylight it’s a great state.  The average winter snowfall in Whittier is 24 feet.  Also, Alaska is one of the most active seismic regions in the world.  Whittier is near the epicenter of the 1964 Good Friday earthquake that measured 9.2 on the Richter scale.  Following are a few pictures from our recent travels. 

Cascade Glacier (left) & Barry Glacier (right).

Steller Sea Lions

Sea Otters.

Kittiwake Bird Rookery.

Byron Glacier near Portage Lake (on July 9).