We decided to stay another night at the B&B to rest up and escape the rain.  We talked with several of the others staying there at breakfast.  After spending a little time on the computers, we went down a couple of blocks to the Halibut House for lunch.  It's the first time I've had Copper River Red Salmon lightly battered and fried like fish and chips.  It was good, but a bit unusual.  

We decided to take a wildlife and glacier tour today on The Lu-Lu Belle, even though it's raining.  When we called, they said the wildlife doesn't care that it's raining.  Hummm, good point.  The Lu-Lu Belle is quite a ship and Captain Fred is quite a character.  He started off by introducing himself and telling us to wipe the crap off our shoes before boarding because he's got oriental carpets in there.  HE DID!  It was a beautiful ship which, we found out on his website later, he built himself.  Captain Fred is quite the talker too.  He must have been a stand-up comic in a previous life.  He really knows the history of the area, Prince William Sound and where the wildlife is.  Just leaving port he told us about how some of the commercial fishing boats operated and how the canneries worked.  

On our way out, we saw several sea otters just hanging around, floating on their backs, waiting for suppertime.  We motored past some beautiful waterfalls and shoreline, all the while, Captain Fred is talking, telling us all about Alaska and the town of Valdez, and we just MUST hike to the Valdez Glacier tomorrow.  We'll just have to extend you're stay another day or two.  

We went up to a rocky shore an was some puffins.  They are the cutest little birds!  Captain Fred got the bow of the boat right inside the cave where they were nesting!  I can't believe that he got his boat that close to the rocks!!  We saw another spot with some puffins and turned to our left.... and saw several rocks covered with Steller's Sea Lions!  We slowly went by what could have been a hundred sea lions lying around on the rocks, just flapping and belching, a couple scratching an itch.  It smelled a lot like a Chinese grocery store, a bit fishy.  

Captain Fred is telling us more stories, about the big earthquake that hit in 1964 that completely destroyed the town and the museum that we just HAVE to see... "But", he says, "you're hiking to the glacier tomorrow and fishing the day after... well, you'll just have to stay another week, maybe two..."  You could hear the grin in his voice.  

We arrived out to sea where one of the crew had sighted a whale.  They can stay down for quite a while, and Captain Fred starts a count of how many minutes since it was last seen.  The whale surface again with a blow, breaks the water a few times for a few breaths, then takes a dive, showing us the classic fluke (tail) photo.  Captain Fred speeds to the area where it just went down and starts counting again, how many minutes he's been down.  Once again, the whale surfaces with a blow, bobs along the surface a few times breathing, then takes a dive again.  Captain Fred is talking us thru it..."Here it comes, the arched back, he's diving, wait for it... and NOW, take the picture now!"  The perfect whale tail shot!

Our next stop is the Columbia Glacier, the most active glacier in this area.  As we approached, we saw several icebergs floating in the water.  Some of the icebergs were the most incredible blue, some were black and of course, some were white.  The blue color comes from having all the air pushed out of the ice from the pressure of the glacier above.  The black ones have picked up lots of dirt and rocks, they have probably come from the bottom or sides of the glacier.  The white ones are from nearer the top of the glacier.  The crew took pictures with our cameras of anyone who wanted in front of one really spectacular iceberg.  They also supplied a few props.  Since many people use these photos on their Holiday cards, they supplied "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hanukah" signs for the photos.  

We waited to see the glacier "calve", or drop large icebergs into the water.  Captain Fred showed us what to look for, large cracks in the glacier face, points extending, ready to drop.  As we were watching one area just ahead, a huge chunk dropped off to our left and behind us.  We all turn to see the wave in the water and we missed another area of calving.  We all have our cameras trained on the wrong spot.  

As we were leaving the glacier, we passed by some Harbor Seals lying on a couple icebergs.  These guys are more shy than the Stellar Sea lions and they would slip into the water as we passed by. 

As we made our way back to port, Captain Fred told us more of the wonderful things to do in Valdez, well, we may as well stay until Labor Day, we've got so much to do here! (wink)

We had a great time on the boat tour, even if it was cold and rainy.  We boarded the boat at 2pm and didn't get back until well after 9pm.  It was so late by the time we got back, we were glad we had dinner on the boat.  Their galley was serving soup in a bread bowl and Andrew got a chili and I got a tasty clam chowder.  At $5.00 per bowl, it was by far the cheapest meal we've ever had in Alaska.