Valdez

We began our third Sunday on the road very appropriately by attending church services in Valdez, or rather in Valdez Harbor as the Baptist services were held on the Lu-Lu Belle a glacier viewing vessel at 8:00 AM.  It was inspiring to hear God's word whilst sitting in the middle of one of his finest creations.  We later boarded the Lu-Lu Belle for an actual glacier cruise.  The services were attended mostly by visitors to the area who we enjoyed meeting.

Lu-Lu Belle

After church we returned to the Winnebago for breakfast and an I-Chat with Karyn, Todd & family. Then we packed for our glacier viewing tour and headed back for town.  On the way I got a few shots of the area.  We had time to visit the Valdez Museum for a look at the history of the town.

Looking up the Lowe River

Valdez Harbor

The Lu-Lu Belle departed port at 2:00 PM with Captain Fred giving us a running commentary on what we were seeing.  On the way out of the harbor we passed our home away from home proudly standing watch over the channel entering the harbor.

Home Sweet Home

Lu-Lu Belle is a beautiful boat trimmed in teak with oriental carpets on the floor.  Captain Fred has had the boat since 1979 and winters each year in Port Angeles, Washington.  A few miles out we spotted some Dall Porpoises who loved to play with the boat by swimming in front of it. They look a lot like their cousins the Killer Whale but on a much smaller scale.

Dall Porpoise

We also had the good fortune to spot a couple of Humpback Whales.  I was able to capture a photo of one of them with his/her flukes out of the water.  

Humpback Whale

We looked hard for Puffins and found one in a cave that was too dark to photograph then we saw one swimming which I was able to photograph.

Puffin

Our primary objective was to visit the Columbia Glacier and as we approached we found ourselves surrounded by ice bergs.  In fact we were not able to get to the actual face of the glacier because our path was completely blocked by ice bergs for a distance of almost eight miles.

Ice Berg

Columbia Glacier

On our return to Valdez Harbor we got another look at the Oil Terminal with a tanker now being loaded with oil for delivery to the lower 48.  On the way out to Columbia glacier we passed Bligh Reef where the Exxon Valdez went aground in 1989 after the captain feel asleep and wandered six miles off course.

Valdez Oil Terminal

All in all it was a great Father's Day!  On Monday we will finish our tour of Valdez and head north for some more adventures.