A day on the LuLuBelle in Prince William Sound

The post is going to have lots of pics since we spent the day on the LuLuBelle cruising Prince William Sound and learning about the wildlife of the area, observing a massive active glacier and watching a commercial fishing boat bring in a net filled with Salmon.

Our Tour Boat in the Front - LuLuBelle

Some Sea Gulls making themselves at home on top of the NavAides of the boat next to us in harbor.

A cannery transport ship for fish from the commercial fishers to the cannery.

A cannery - those hoses hanging from the dock suck the fish out of the boat holds to be processed

A couple of pics of the Coast Guard presence in Valdez - 4 boats













Let's start the wildlife off with Sea Otters . . . they are just about the cutest things to watch.  A group floating around together like this is called a raft. . . makes sense.

We also saw some floating around on ice chips off the glaciers

Then there were sea lions . . . lots and lots of sea lions. Our Captain of the boat doesn't like the sea lions because they eat the salmon and they stink . . . but they are indigenous and man is the salmon fishing intruder in my opinion.  The shore is lined with them.

My very favorite of all the wildlife . . . . Puffins!

Puffin in the water

Puffin hiding out in the cliff

There were Mountain Goats

Horsetail Falls

"Selfie"

Pieces of Ice from the Columbia Glacier were all through the channel as we approached the glacier. 

This one looks like an iceberg

Each of these looks different: Bluish on the left and stripes from the sediment picked up by the glacier on the right, the front one is nearly all sediment stuck together with ice. In 1979 the face of the glacier was 3.5 miles further out into Prince William Sound. It was very sobering to think of that much melting in 38 years. 

Just a partial view of the massive glacier

We also had the privilege of watching a commercial fishing boat haul in a load of Salmon (and jellyfish)

Fishing boats off the point

Letting the net out in a circle

Drawing the net back up like a purse string

The clear what look like pieces of ice are jellyfish

Salmon on deck

It was fun watching but we have other things to see

Just a view

Valdez Oil Pipeline ending

The weather could not have been any better . . . sunshine and fair seas. Tomorrow we bid adieu to Valdez and begin a 3 day journey to Haines.