Prince William Sound Day Cruise in Alaska

This morning we were up bright and early, mostly in anticipation of our boat tour of the Prince William Sound scheduled for later in the day. A lot of people leave the train at Whittier and like us, most are taking one tour or another on Prince William Sound. We chose ours based on the knowledge of our Tour Consultant at Alaska Denali Tours.

We climbed aboard the “Emerald Sea” and began. The scenery is breathtaking, and not like any place we’ve ever been before. The cliffs have green foliage this time of year,

and are interspersed with channels of snowmelt water that cascade like waterfalls into the Sound. We had the presence of mind to bring some pictures of this back, and they are among the favorites in our album. The crew and National Park Ranger on board, told us about glacier ice and how it is different from the ice in our freezer. It takes thirty feet of snowfall to compact into just one inch of glacier ice. Due to this extreme compression, it is crystal clear and we are told you could carry a chunk of glacier ice in your pocket all day long without it thawing. We left that for someone else to verify, though.

Crewmembers wanted to show us some glacier ice up close, so two of them got a net and went to the stern of the ship to snag a chunk. Unfortunately, the chunk of ice the crewmember snagged was much larger than expected. It almost pulled her in!

A great day trip! A very entertaining tour, knowledgeable staff, and enough scenic photo opportunities throughout the day to fill an album. We highly recommend a visit to Alaska’s Prince William Sound with Major Marine Tours.

Fannie and Richard Keisler