“USA 🇺🇸 Alaska ~Valdez on the Lu-Lu Belle Touring the Prince William Sound and the Columbia Glacier”

• July 22, 2023
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

We Bundled-Up to Visit the Columbia Glacier ~UP CLOSE!

…. and thoroughly enjoyed this very special and classic boat tour, out of Valdez, Alaska.
Captain Fred did an amazing job of navigating his Lu-Lu Belle, safely through icebergs to get us as close to the Columbia Glacier Ice Wall, as was safely possible.

The Lu-Lu Belle

We left the Valdez port at 10:30AM, and got back to port 10.5 hours later. Captain Fred promised, when we left, he would get us back before dark, and he did!
The guy’s got jokes, dontcha know. (in the land of the midnight sun) 

⬆️ The actual “Deadliest Catch” Boat from the reality series 

With a full day of boating, there were plenty of food options to see us through. Good food options! Not super cheap, so bring your own food, or bring cash.
Daryl and I shared a bread bowl of homemade Clam Chowder. There was also Salmon Chowder, Hot Dogs, and fresh baked Muffins, and Brownies.

There were two young gals on board, who were Captain Fred’s crew and they did a great job. The boat was kept tidy and ship-shape at all times. The boat is smaller than other traditional boats for large crowds, we have cruised on, for other excursions, which I liked. It’s a more intimate group that way.

I estimated there were 40 guests; give or take. Captain Fred greeted each of us as we boarded, and said goodbye and thank-you to everybody as we left. He’s been doing what he does best, for over 40 years. He would offer a lot of information, as we toured. He’s got to be in his 90’s, and if we thought we were tired at the end of the day, the Captain surely was, but he didn’t show it! He is truly an old salt who has knowledge and experiences to be admired!

We would travel many miles to reach the glacier, and many miles to return to port.

Prince William Sound 

Prince William Sound is a body of water in the Gulf of Alaska.
A sound is a small body of water that comes in from the ocean.

Prince William Sound is on the south side of the U.S. state of Alaska and encompasses 10,000 square miles of protected waterways, islands, fjords, and has around 150 glaciers.
The region offers habitat for diverse marine life, including: Humpback Whales, Orca Whales, Porpoises, Sea Otters, Sea Lions, and Seals. This Sound has had two, very serious disasters over the years;

The first: The tsunami, generated by the Prince William Sound Earthquake of March 28, 1964, which was the largest since the 1960 Chilean tsunami. There were 122 fatalities and over $104 million in damage, resulted.

Secondly: The Valdez Exxon Oil Spill: This man-made disaster, spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, and dramatically changed the lives of the wildlife; taking a major toll on them.

The Exxon Valdez oil slick covered 1,300 miles of coastline and killed an estimated 250,000 Sea Birds, 3,000 Otters, 300 Seals, 250 Bald Eagles and 22 Killer Whales. We boated near the site of the disaster, but I did not feel the need to memorialize that with a picture.

I was more happy, to see for myself, the wildlife has and continues to rebound. The oil-spill-cleanup effort has proven to be successful. We saw hundreds each of Sea Otters, Stellar Seals (endangered)  and Harbor Seals. We also saw about a dozen wild Mountain Goats, including one baby. (these are the long-haired white goats)

There were very few Puffins to see on this day, but we saw a few. We saw so many Puffins on the Resurrection Bay Boat Tour in the Fjord of Seward, last month, I guess we didn’t know we were so lucky.

Also on that tour, we saw very few Sea Otters, yet on this tour, we saw hundreds. So ya never know, when it comes to wildlife.

We did not see any Whales, which was a surprise, given the area we were in. The Orcas are spotted, often. There were two yesterday, and 15, just last week. Daryl and I have both seen wild Orcas, before, but we love seeing them whenever we can!

Sea Otters

⬆️ Potato Point

We had some sunshine, but most importantly, we had zero rain, or foul weather of any kind, which was a first for us, doing an excursion, since our trip to Barrow (Utqiagvik) in the Arctic North, in June.
Out on the boat, and the closer we got to the glacier, the colder it got. I loved it! That being said, it was cozy-warm inside the boat cabin, which was nice, too.

Black Bears can sometimes be seen along this rugged coastline, lounging in the sand, in the sun. We did not get to see any on the beaches, this trip.

Puffins can be found nesting, just inside these type of caves

Stellar Seals

⬆️ My spirit animal? 😎

⬆️ I spy ice!

Sea Otters 

⬆️ Mama Goat and her baby ⬇️

More Mountain Goats 

⬆️ Here, we were just able see the Columbia Glacier. We were still 7 por so miles out.

A direct route from the Valdez Port to Columbia Glacier is 13.8 miles, but we traveled the Sound, for more than just the Glacier.

More Sea Otters 

Talk about dramatic scenery!
This glacier, in the eastern part of Prince William Sound, has been in a “catastrophic” retreat since 1982; a phenomenon, predicted to stop, by 2020.
Indeed, every day, 13 million tons of ice break off the face of it, leaving chunks in the water that are often twice as big as the boat we were riding in. This means, getting close to this glacier, can be tricky.

Tour boats leave from Valdez to see the Columbia, and these tours tend to be at least seven hours long, with wildlife viewing along the way.

If the boat can get close to the glacier, you’ll be within one mile or less of its face, and you’ll get a 270-degree view of glacier ice that’s 200 to 400 feet tall. (otherwise, you might be no closer than 12 miles).

This is why we chose the Lu-Lu Belle Glacier and Wildlife Tour. Captain Fred has been doing this for longer than anybody around.

Columbia glacier is located in Prince William Sound.
At over over 1,084 feet thick at some points and covering an area of 400 square miles, this glacier is a sight to behold, whether from a boat or the sky. It snakes its way, 32 miles through the Chugach Mountains, before dumping into the Columbia Bay, under 40 miles by boat from Valdez.

⬇️ The Grand Finale, before turning around and heading back to port, was watching a giant piece of ice break off and crash into the sea, in what is called a “calving” event.
We saw some small calving, but this one was huge!’

For more information on the Lu-Lu Belle Tour, click here:

https://lulubelletours.com/

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In comparison: in 2005 Glacier Bay Alaska (inside passage area) I visited my first up-close Glacier  ⬇️

Glaciers are here to stay, and I’m happy to report, there is glacier in the Prince William Sound that is actually growing bigger, not shrinking.

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