Salmon, seriously!

The Lu Lu Belle in Valdez harbor

In Valdez, we took a wildlife/glacier cruise on the Lu Lu Belle. Captain Fred has been taking his boat out for about 40 years. The Lu Lu Belle is described as”well appointed “—indeed, Fred personally takes your boarding pass and asks that you clean your shoes to preserve his Persian carpets, and the inside cabin really has gorgeous rugs in a warm compartment. Judd and I opted to sit outside so we could quickly run to whichever side of the boat had a dolphin or whale or raft of otters. All morning long, the two mates in the galley would waft out smells of hot brewed coffee or just-baked muffins from the snack bar. We brought our own lunch so resisted for a while.

Captain Fred came through. He narrated, almost non-stop, for 9 hours, all the history of the area, the earthquake that destroyed old Valdez and why the town was rebuilt nearby; the spot where the Valdez oil spill occurred. Passengers conjectured that it must be recording, and then we’d zoom right or left so Fred could point out some seals or otters in real time. We had s bit of excitement when the Coast Guard pulled us over. The Guard wanted to point out to our captain that, despite the fog, he had veered too close to the pipleline perimeter while trying to get us lined up to see the adorable otters.

The wildlife included puffins, stellar sea lions, otters, dolphins and Judd and I think we saw the only orca (in the distance, and no one else saw it.) But we were most impressed with the glaciers. Fred got us to the edge of the Columbia Glacier and we couldn't believe he was still driving through ice. Then he would get closer. We saw/heard the glacier calving into the ocean. We wore every layer of clothes we'd brought and we could play outside while half the passengers never left the cabin. Two people on the trip were the Canadians we'd met at a campground over a week ago in Inuvik. We took their couple pictures and they took ours and we shared later.

The other sight of the trip was the salmon fishing. We observed a fishing vessel purse-seine fishing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JUKvrfaslM A little boat makes a circle and drops the floats holding up the net. The bigger boat gussies up the "purse," closing the fish in the nets and bringing the massive catch on board. Our ship's mates ran down and delivered home made brownies to the fishing crew so they don't get annoyed we're hovering around.

Before leaving Valdez, Judd and I visited the fish hatchery. It was similar to where Kelcy worked for a season. We watched a zillion pink salmon trying to swim upstream over the fish ladder. Judd was captivated by the engineering. I was dazzled by the biology and ecology of it all. The workers anesthetize the fish and then separate the male from female at long metal work benches. The workers harvest the eggs from the females and the milt from the males, mix the ingredients in a bucket and grow tiny salmon in tanks, protected until they can be released back to the ocean. Some species are protected for up to two years before they're released. Kelcy reminded us that two years ago when he worked at a hatchery in Prince William Sound, he caught a salmon with his bare hands. The fish are so plentiful and determined as they swim upstream to spawn, they ignore all dangers: bears, sea lions, gulls--think they're at an all you can eat salmon dinner. I'm sure a single Kelcy could score at least one fish. We could have if we had a fishing license.

Tonight we opted for a hotel vacation (and glad we did as it rained all day in Seward.) We took the chance to do laundry, wish for rapid internet, and get caught up on the news! It's still pretty light pretty late, so we still camp with dark-out eye masks modeled here, by Judd and Sheldon.