Thursday 12th June Anchorage to Valdez

We were up early at 6.30am and boarded our Cosmos Bus at 8.45am heading for Whittier. We passed Turnagain Arm which is a waterway into the northwestern part of the Gulf of Alaska. It is one of two narrow branches of Cook Inlet the other being Knik Arm. We stopped at Portage Glacier which is on the Kenai Peninsula. We then went through the longest tunnel in North America, the Anton Anderson Memorial which is 4184 metres long. The one lane tunnel is shared by cars and trains travelling in both directions. This unique design enables a single lane of traffic to travel directly over the railroad track. The schedule to Whittier was on the half hour and form Whittier on the hour.

On arrival in Whittier we boarded a boat called the Glacier Spirit for an up-close look at the playful life in Price William Sound, the 4.8 kilometre face of Columbia Glacier, and the epicentre of the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964. We passed through Wells Passage, saw many Glaciers, the Valdez Arm, Port Valdez, Anderson Glacier, Shoup Glacier, Mt. Hogan and the Valdez Glacier. We spotted Whales and Dall Porpoise, Sea Lions, Sea Otters and Harbour Seals. We also saw a salmon fishing boat reeling in its overflowing nets. We finished our boat journey at the docks in Valdez which is home to the Alyeska Pipeline Terminal.

Valdez is a fishing Port, both for commercial and sport fishing. Freight moves through Valdez bound for the interior of Alaska. The oil from the Trans Alaska pipeline is loaded onto ships at the Valdez Oil Terminal. The Alyeska Pipeline Servicce Company is one of the biggest employers in town.

We stayed overnight in Valdez, the "Switzerland of Alaska". Our accomodation was at the Mountain Sky Hotel. We checked into our hotel and then walked to the local Supermarket to stock up on breakfast and lunch snacks. Then Pete and I walked down to the Docks and had dinner at the Fat Mermaid pub. Salmon of course.......

There was NAPA store across from our hotel.....