"The name "North Pole" is often applied to the entire area covered by its zip code, 99705. This area stretches between Fort Wainwright and Eielson Air Force Base, and between the Chena River and the Tanana River, including subdivisions off of Badger Road, a loop road connecting the eastern edge of Fairbanks city limits with North Pole city limits, and in the nearby census-designated place of Moose Creek. Despite the name, the city is about 1,700 miles (2,700 km) south of Earth's geographic North Pole."
We went on the Sam Stevenson tour boat of The Meares Glacier -
"The Meares Glacier is a large and only tidewater glacier at the head of Unakwik Inlet in Chugach National Forest, Alaska. The glacier is one of the many in Prince William Sound, and is about 79.6 miles (128 km) east of Anchorage. The glacier is named for eighteenth century British naval captain John Meares. The face of the glacier is one mile (1.6 km) wide where it calves into the inlet. The glacier is sometimes visited by cruises from Valdez."
Our ship is on the left. It was in great condition. It was built in 2005 and purchased by Stan Stephens for the 2006 season.
Cute guy at the end of the line.
Mission Control
The Captain on the right.
The scenery was spectacular - here are a lot of photos - I couldn't decide which ones to skip so you get them all. There's also a link near the end of the blog to a video we made of highlights of the cruise.
You can just barely see the rainbow at the bottom of the falls.
Lots of fishing boats (seiners) in the distance.
The first animals we saw were Pigeon Guillemots -
Cool Facts
- The Pigeon Guillemot is one of the few members of the auk and puffin family to lay two eggs. Nearly all others lay only one egg, but the three guillemots of the genus Cepphus and the four murrelets in the genus Synthliboramphus usually lay two.
- The Pigeon Guillemot feeds in shallower waters than most auks, puffins, or murrelets. Although it is known to dive to depths greater than 45 meters (148 feet), it feeds best in waters of only 10 to 20 meters (33-66 feet) deep.
- The Pigeon Guillemot often scales vertical rock faces by some vigorous flapping of its wings combined with the use of the sharp claws on its webbed feet.
Early on we came upon a channel marker with a few loafing sea lions.
and of course, my favorites, sea otters
We had a 'hitchhiker' - a commercial fishing boat worker. His boat sent a small boat to pick him up.
After about 3 hours we approached Meares Glacier.
and the Harbor Seals. It's birthing season so there were lots of babies. On many of the ice floats you could see the placentas. Seal pups swim within hours of birth and teach themselves to hunt for food. Harbor Seal numbers are declining in many areas. Many factors are blamed - environmental (oil and other contaminants), declining food fish for larger mammals so the seals become prey, death in gill nets, and disturbance of their breeding grounds by sightseeing ships. The Exxon Valdez oil spill so impacted the area - and especially Harbor Seals. It is estimated that seal populations declined 45% in oiled areas of Prince William Sound.
One group concerned is The Alaska Native Harbor Seal Commission -Organized in 1995 as a nonprofit tribal consortium comprised of Alaska Native
communities within the harbor seal habitat range. The overall goal of the commission is to
strengthen and increase the role of Alaska Natives in resource management and
decisions affecting the harbor seals and their uses. The Commission helps foster this
through our co-management agreement for data analysis, population monitoring and
harvest assessment.
communities within the harbor seal habitat range. The overall goal of the commission is to
strengthen and increase the role of Alaska Natives in resource management and
decisions affecting the harbor seals and their uses. The Commission helps foster this
through our co-management agreement for data analysis, population monitoring and
harvest assessment.
Their proposed bill -
Advance notice of proposed rulemaking. NMFS is considering
whether to propose regulations to protect glacially-associated
harbor seal habitats in Alaska used for pupping, nursing, resting,
and molting and limit vessel disturbance to harbor seals in those
habitats. Comment period through May 13, 2013.
whether to propose regulations to protect glacially-associated
harbor seal habitats in Alaska used for pupping, nursing, resting,
and molting and limit vessel disturbance to harbor seals in those
habitats. Comment period through May 13, 2013.
As the boat got closer to the seals, many were clearly disturbed and fled into the water. We all just hoped none were giving birth at that time.
This family is in our video.
They are so awkward on land and so graceful in the water. The babies are so precious - it's hard to imagine anyone beating them to death.
The seal in front either recently gave birth or was about to do so.
Fortunately I have a very good zoom lens on my camera.
It's interesting that we bothered the seals but calving glaciers didn't!
I love the blue color of the glaciers. They're blue because they absorb every other color in the spectrum except blue, so blue is what we see.
We had fun finding shapes in the icebergs. This one looks like an airplane.
Stan Stephen's grandson, Josiah, holding some glacier ice. He's a really sweet 15 year-old. He's learning the ropes on the ships this summer. We're quite sure he's assured a job!
A Humpback Whales's "footprint" on the water. In "olden days" sailors believed it was oil.
We saw lots and lots of Stellar Sea Lions - although their numbers are decreasing also. The Seward Sea Life Center is doing a lot of research into the reasons for the decline. Among the known reasons is the decimation of the herring population due to the Exxon oil spill.
Here's the link to our video of the glacier calving, the Harbor Seal pup trying to get back on the iceberg after we frightened him/her, Stellar Sea Lions, Humpback Whales and Dall's Porpoises. Excuse the
"nausea cam" moments - sometimes it was hard to hold the camera steady.
The Indian profile rock formation on the way back to Valdez.
After a hard day of cruising it was time for dinner at "On The Hook"
It was a great day.
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