Cruising College Fjord

Trip Start Jun 17, 2009
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Trip End Jul 12, 2009


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Where I stayed
College Fjord Sound
(Valdez hotels)

Flag of United States  , Alaska,
Friday, July 3, 2009

Again today we had amazing sights as we sailed through College Fjord. We had another ranger over the loud speakers pointing out okras, sea otters, and of course more glaciers.  We passed Valdez on the way in and he was describing a lot about the Exxon Valdez oil spill since we just passed the 20 year anniversary.  The sea otters luckily were not too impacted by it, but Puffins and the fish obviously were.  Unfortunately he said Puffins may never return back to that area of Alaska. 
We sailed as close as a mile to the glacier's face and even were able to see more points than usual since it was our captain’s last cruise to Alaska.  It was surreal to sit down to lunch or dinner and look out the window at these giant mountains and glaciers.  At the end of this day we found this amazing bar on the 16th deck where you could see all sides of the boat and hear the commentary by the ranger.  Plus it was inside, which I liked since it was freezing and I was starting to not feel well. 
The captain got us into Whittier a half an hour early at 11:30 pm so we could see the 4th of July fireworks at midnight.  It is absolutely crazy that at midnight the sky was still as bright as it is at about 7 pm.  I wish I could say we were out there watching them, but with me being sick and we had to be up early to disembark.  We did watch them on the closed circuit TV though.  It’s sad that today is our last day because this part of the trip has been AMAZING!  Hope you all like the updates, sorry we weren’t able to update while on the boat but internet was too expensive for two unemployed folk.  Hope everyone is doing well!!
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