Good Bye Valdez!!

Let's roll.......

Ready to get on the water!

This is the iceberg that I thought looked like a whale. What do you think?

Blue Ice Field

Beautiful "blue ice"

Our group paddling through the ice field

Behind us you can see the 11 miles of icebergs and way in the back is the terminus of the Columbia Glacier.

Earlier this ice would have towered over us.. But once the tide came in and the ice started floating they were considerably shorter.

Mama and baby otter - sooooo cute

Hawk


It has been fun here in Valdez but like all things this too must come to an end! I am going to miss the drives out to hopefully catch a glimpse of Mama Bear and her 3 playful cubs, the little Black Bears and the Eagles. But I won't miss seeing all the salmon floundering in the shallow streams fighting for their chance to survive and spawn just to die because they get caught in the shallows when the tide recedes. But that was a very small part of this experience!

While in Valdez we celebrated our 37th Anniversary with a Kayak trip to Columbia Glacier. After 90 minutes on a boat to get to the put in site, our kayaks were on the shore and we were in the middle of a huge ice field. Everyone was in awe at the size and color of those chunks of ice that were 10 to 15 feet tall and just as wide. I got a picture of one that looked like an ice sculpture of a whale. (You have to use your imagination a little, hehehe). It was amazing to see these huge chunks of ice just sitting on the ground. We spent about 30 minutes wandering around the ice field before we actually got in our kayaks and started paddling. There were 16 people and 2 guides, Emily and Josh, so we split up into 2 groups of 8. We chose to go with Emily; she was a real tomboy between 29 and 32, from Michigan, stood less than 5 ft., very outdoorsy and a perfect fit for this type of environment. We spent the next 90 minutes weaving in and out of the avenues of blue ice created by the floating icebergs. It was amazing to look up as you paddle by an iceberg that towered over you and see that brilliant blue hue. We had to be careful not to get too close to the icebergs that had overhangs; no one wanted to find themselves in that VERY cold water. I certainly did not want to know what a slice of lime feels like buried in a margarita. When stopped for lunch on an island, I thought it was strange that Emily tied each kayak to a rock on the shore even though they were all completely out of the water. We would know why after lunch!
From the description of the trip I thought we would get up close and personal with the glacier but realized after we hiked up to where we could see it that that was not going to happen. Between us and the terminus of the glacier there was 11 miles of solid icebergs. Not only would it have been dangerous but I doubt you could even find a passage through. As it was, the little bit that we paddled in the ice field we had to keep turning around because of dead ends. Lunch was over and it was time to get back in our kayaks and continue on. NOW we realized why they were tied up. In the 45 minutes we were on shore having lunch the tide came in enough that all the kayaks were floating. THAT is why she is the guide! We made one more pass through the ice field before heading out. The icebergs we walked through earlier were now floating and the shore we started at was completely underwater. The initial icebergs we paddled by earlier were not as tall as they were because they were now free floating. We didn't realize they weren't floating before! When the tide shifts here it happens in a rush. The remainder of our trip was spent paddling through an old and new rain forest, by a waterfall and through a bay. Throughout the day we saw, sea otters, gulls, black oystercatchers, a red tailed hawk, jelly fish, sea lions and some harbor porpoise. We were hoping for whales but they were being shy so we never did see any. What an awesome way to spend an anniversary!

Thank you Valdez for a great 12 days!!!!