It was exactly a year ago that we quit our jobs to see the world. From Valdez we took a day cruise on the Lu-Lu Belle with Captain Fred Rodolf. The cruise is advertised as 7 to ? hours. We sailed out of Valdez at 11am, 7 hours would see us back there at 6pm, we arrived back at 8.20pm! what a great day though. Captain Fred is 79 and has been running this cruise since 1979. There was no view just sea mist and it was drizzling, not an ideal start. We cruised out of the mist lurking around the port and leaving the rain behind, soon we saw 'rafts' of sea otters. They were just drifting around on their backs fast asleep. Lu-Lu Belle's wake soon awoke them. They dive down to catch fish, if the fish is too big to eat in one go they float on their backs with the fish on their chest taking a nibble now and then. If they bring up a shellfish they also bring up a rock which they use to smash open the shellfish, again whilst floating around on their backs - clever little b*****s. Next up was sealions lazing on the sounds buoys with other sealions battling to climb on board when there were no places left. Captain Fred didn't slow down or move in close for us to take photos, they are not liked as they eat the salmon. Hugging the shoreline we saw bald eagles, we have in fact seen a lot of eagles in the last month. Back into deeper waters for whale spotting, a lot of full throttle when a blow was seen in the distance. We got reasonably close to several humpback whales. Soon we passed by the infamous Bligh reef (named after Captain Bligh of the Bounty) on which the Oil tanker the Exxon Valdez grounded on, back in 1989 (on Good Friday - same as the earthquake in '64?) causing an oil slick and killing bird and marine life in Prince William Sound. Captain Fred advised we avoid Valdez on Good Friday, he also gave us a virtual non-stop commentary throughout the 9hr 20 minute cruise! Lots of info and funny stories, he is quite a character. We skirted Glacier Island and Fred edged the boat frighteningly close into cliffs and caves, the boat rocked severely and it seemed that we would be scuppered on the rocks. At this time Donna and I were perched up high above the wheelhouse. Everyone else was at the bow peering into a cave for puffins but we were photographing a Stellar sealion on some rocks of the port side. Could the captain not see the sealion, off course he could but what he knew and we didn't was just around the cliffs was a whole colony of Stellar sealions. Some launched themselves into the water and started performing for us. It was quite amazing to see them so close, the captain must know these waters well as the rocks and the pebble beaches were incredibly near at times and the water certainly wasn't calm. After having plenty of time to be wowed by this sealion spectacle we made tracks to head to the Columbia Glacier. Yes, yet another glacier, this one is the second largest tide water glacier in North America. With the glacier hidden around a headland we started to encounter icebergs of blue, white and black (blue where all the air has been squeezed out of the ice and it reflects light as blue, black where the glacier has dragged rocks from underneath it). The glacier came into view but still very distant and with a sea of ice seemingly barring our way. Not so, Captain Fred steadily cruised through the iceberg sea to take us within a quarter of a mile of the Glacier snout. None of the other cruise ships go through the ice. Here we lingered for an hour watching chunks of ice 200 feet tall break off and crash into the sea. It was bleeding freezing here but the scenery was so awesome (please excuse the American adjective) that we didn't go inside for a warm. We started to head for home, cautiously at first through the ice before Lu-Lu Belles engines were racing. It didn't end there, Captain Fred wanted to find us more wildlife. We found sea otters lazing on icebergs. We succumbed to the warmth of the lounge and bought hot chocolate to warm us through. Someone spotted something on a hillside, we turned around! It was only a goat, but passengers had their binoculars and zoom lenses out and were thrilled! Off the starboard side someone saw a large splash in the distance, so we raced that a way in hope it was an Orca or a whale but we didn't find anything. Captain Fred has no schedule, he promises to get you back before it's dark and is happy to zigzag and backtrack to investigate goats and splashes! Some days people see Dall Porpoises jumping around the boats bow or Orcas doing acrobatics, we didn't see these and didn't expect to as they are not everyday occurrences. It was a thoroughly wonderful day, the sealions and glacier calvings stole the show. Despite it being a late return we were so pleased we booked with Captain Fred and not one of the other boats who don't visit the sealions and don't brave the sea of ice. Back at the RV site we speed showered and Donna speed cooked otherwise dinner would have been supper (a second helping of yesterdays Chilli). Then it started to rain, it may have been cold at times on deck but all in all we were lucky with the weather, the forecast is heavy rain for the next 7 days.