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Activities |
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- Whale Watching
- A Raft of Sea Otters
- Drive over Thompson pass
- Hiking to Solomon Lake
- Fishing
- Walk around icebergs
- Bird Watching
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| Whale Watching |
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| Whale watching can be tedious--but I also find it oddly exilerating. Basically, this is the scenario: You catch sight of a black speck in the distance. The captain guns the motor and steers towards the point the whale was last seen. You look at the point where the whale was last seen and then someone catches sight of it 180 degrees in the opposite direction. The captain guns the boat for the point where the whale last went down and you wait around again for another five or ten minutes. However, there is something thrilling when the captain has cut the motor and the whale surfaces within a few hubdred yards. The roar of the ocean parting so that the great animal can catch a few breaths is like no other experience in the world. I can only imagine the thrill of a full breach by a creature as large and magnificent as the humpback. In our case, we saw several flukes, which is the whale showing its tail as it goes down for perhaps a ten to fifteen minute dive. By the way, whales eat mostly krill, plankton and extremely small fish. It couldn't choke down a sea otter if it wanted to. Amazingly enough, a humpback can go through two tons of krill in a day. The Alaskan seas are just teeming with life. |
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| A Raft of Sea Otters |
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| What a fun-loving animal. In the Alaskan oceans the sea otters get plenty plump as they spend most of the day dining on tasty crustaceans. They consume about a quarter of their body weight daily. That computes to some ten pounds of sea food. I'd like to see you walk about to the counter at a Red Lobster and ask for ten lbs of prawns and then gobble them down. So yes, you must not only admire their carefree attitudes, but also their voracious appetites. What a life. Lying on your back all day, eating the bounty of the sea and when you've had your fill, there are countless otter companions with whom you can wrestle around. |
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| Drive over Thompson pass |
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| Drive over Thompson pass. You have to if you're driving to Valdez! The pass has an elevation of 2,678 feet/816m but remains above tree-line. You may find some wildflowers in bloom up here if you hike around a little. I think this would be mainly in July. Snowfall extremes in Alaska have all been credited to the Thompson Pass station. Record measurements are: 974.5 inches for season (1952-53); 298 inches for month (Feb. 1953); and 62 inches for a 24-hr period (Dec. 1955). Snowpoles along the roadsides mark the road edge for snowplows. |
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| Hiking to Solomon Lake |
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| Hiking to Solomon Lake. The Solomon Lake hike begins from Old Dayville Rd at the Solomon Gulch water project. A fish hatchery is located across the street. Other hikes in the area include the old gold mining road to Mineral Creek. You can also rent a mountain bike to go to Mineral Creek. Watch out for black bears! |
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| Fishing |
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| After dropping off our group and the kayaks near Columbia Glacier, the captain took the boat out for halibut fishing while we went paddling. He caught a couple in no time (Alaska permits 2 per day) and each of us got a piece in the end of day. My piece was big enough for me and my hostel mate. Halibut is easy to process. Once the rubber-like skin is removed there's no bone so it's easy to cook. I fried it with a little salt and cheese (couldn't find butter), and dined with cocktail made from a small iceberg brought back from the Glacier. Best meal I'd ever had! Life is good in Valdez. |
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| Walk around icebergs |
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| During our kayaking trip, we parked on one of the large moraine islands and walked around the amazing icebergs. Some of icebergs were the size of a car or house, as seen in photo. Occasionally a huge chunk of ice cracked and fell, making loud noise. The color of the icebergs indicates the tightness and freshness of the ice structure. When an iceberg first calves off it is blue. It gradually changes to white as infiltrated by air bubbles. So stay away from white icebergs because they may crack. |
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| Bird Watching |
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| During the spring migration, check out Old Town Valdez, including the Duck Flats and Container Terminal.
For birds of the forest, check out Robe River and Mineral Creek.
The Richardson Highway between Mile 4 and 10 is great for raptors.
Additionally, Valdez is great for spotting eagles any time of the year, and Thompson Pass is a major summer nesting ground for white-crowned sparrows.
Make sure your visit takes you out into Prince William Sound, where you will see Horned and Tufted Puffins and get an up close view of a Kittiwake rookery. | |
Save time, money and stress! For reservations: Fill out the vacation planner to be contacted by a Valdez vacation specialist.
Contact : Travelwizard.com
Phone: 1-800-330-8820 or 1-415-446-5252
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