Glacier and Wildlife Cruise on the Lu-Lu Belle
July 9, 2015
We took a cruise on the Lu-Lu
Belle to see the Columbia glacier and wildlife along the way. The
Columbia is the second largest tidewater glacier in Alaska and is
active at calving. The cruise departed at 11 a.m., but the weather was
not very encouraging - a blanket of fog was lying just above us,
obscuring views of the mountains. But at least we should be able to see
things at sea level.
We encountered a group of sea otters as we left Valdez port. Sea otters
lay around in the water a lot, floating on their backs. They keep their
feet and hands, which don't have protective fur, out of the water to
keep them warm.
Sea lions are easy to find. They are a lazy bunch and do a lot of
laying around on beaches and rocks along the shore. They are
great swimmers, but have difficulty moving around on shore, so they
don't get very far from the water.
This sea lion was curious about us and swam out to our boat. He has a nice set of teeth; I wouldn't want to be bit by him.
We spotted a few puffins perched on the side of cliffs. They are funny looking birds, but are great divers.
Next we spotted a mother humpback whale with her baby. I managed to
catch a photo of the whale blowing through her blow holes. The way to
spot whales at sea is to look for whales blowing; it looks like puffs
of steam rising from the sea.
This whale and her baby hung around us quite a while, making shallow
dives. With shallow dives, you don't see the tail, but mostly see
the dorsal fin.
The tail comes up when they make a deep dive.
In a deep dive, they usually stay down 20 minutes or more. So, mother
and baby are saying goodbye to us. We saw a total of fouur
whales, including the baby, on this cruise.
Next we headed for the Columbia glacier. We passed some large icebergs along the way.
Another glacier that was once connected to the Columbia glacier.
The Columbia glacier from the distance. We are still several miles from it.
The Columbia glacier up close and personal. We are about a quarter mile
from the face of the glacier. The ice pinnacles are 300 feet high. The
water here is 600 feet deep; the captain didn't know how far below
water the glacier extended. While we were there, several large chunks
of ice broke off and fell into the sea, creating waves that rocked our
boat.
Greetings from the Columbia glacier.
Heading back to Valdez, the captain stopped by several commercial
fishing boats. He explained that commercial fishing is controlled by
the Dept of Fish and Game. They monitor the catch and determine when
fishermen can actually catch fish, in order to not deplete the stock of
salmon returning to spawn. This fishing boat is hauling in his net with
a load of salmon.
At one fishing boat, the cook gave the fishermen a plate of brownies.
As a thank you, they tossed her a live pink salmon (seen here). She
fileted and cooked it and served a small piece to everyone on board.
Dall porpoises are great fun to watch. They will swim along with the boat, pass underneath, and jump into the boat's wake.
Dall porpoises look like small killer whales. They can swim 30 mph and keep up that speed for quite a while.
Our boat, the Lu-Lu Belle, back in port at 8:30 in the eveningg. The
cruise lasted nine and half hours. We were told that the captain
doesn't keep a schedule for returning, but stays out as long as there
are interesting things to see. It was a fantastic cruise.
The wheelhouse, with Capt. Fred Rodolf narrating the cruise while
piloting the boat. He kept up the narration for the entire 9 1/2 hour
cruise and was amusing as well as informative. The captain owns the
company and leads all the cruises; he has been doing this since 1979,
so he knows the area pretty well.
Next we head to Anchorage to stock up on food, do laundry, and take showers.
