Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The next day we took the Stan Stephens Glacier and Wildlife Cruise from Valdez. This was
really great - leaving at the civilized hour of 10 and returning at 7 in the early evening.
They have a beautiful boat for viewing the glaciers and wildlife - only a couple years old
and very comfortable with tables and comfy seats with great huge windows and good deck-
space for outdoor viewing. Coffee, tea, lemonade, lunch and snack included.
The day started with a push off out towards the Alyeska Terminal on the shore opposite
Valdez. This is where the 1200 km /800 mi Trans-Alaska pipeline terminates. The pipe it-
self is four feet across so you can imagine how much crude is pumping out of there and
into the mega tankers docked there. They say it supplies 18% of the US appetite for crude
oil.
Continuing into Prince William Sound our main objectives were to view the Columbia and
Meares Glaciers. They said we were fortunate to be seeing the glaciers on a cloudy day as
this makes it possible to see the intense blues and greens where the ice has been most in-
tensely compressed. A story? I don't know. The glacial colouration
was
gorgeous.
The Columbia Glacier is best viewed at a distance because it is quite flat in its presentation
at sea level. The closer you get, the less you see. But the glacier is actively calving into
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