This morning started out needing to make the Stan Stephens Tour to the Meares Glacier. The weather was overcast and rainy with a visibility of about 1 mile in Valdez. It was overcast enough that Bill’s dad wasn’t allowed to land in Valdez and their flight had to turn around. All the beautiful mountains that we could see the day before were now hidden in the clouds.

The tours first stop is the Columbia Glacier which was completely fogged in. I never got to see it because the ice pack keeps the boats a couple of miles out. We did get to see plenty of otters on the way and a few seals. There were commercial fishing boats all along the way that use purse nets to catch spawning silvers. On the way back we watched a small heavily loaded boat pull in one of their nets. After a 3-4 hour boat ride we came around a corner which slowly revealed the Meares Glacier. This one we could boat to within about a 1/4 mile. This is truly an amazing experience. When we first got to the glacier there were a couple of small calvs, and by small I mean the size of a Volkswagen. We did get to see about a house size one, which I caught the end of. The captain of the boat said he once saw about 1/3 of the glacier calv at once, we weren’t so lucky. The return trip brought us by Point Bull Head on Glacier Island. Here there are Puffins and Sea Lions. I should probably mention that we got to see a hump back whale on the way. You know you get to see a lot when you almost forget to mention seeing a whale. Back to the sea lions, they came right up to the boat. They would swim under it and pop up on the other side. They were fun to watch. The rest of the trip home was pretty low key. We sat inside most of the time trying to warm up and dry out. If I am ever in Valdez again this trip will be back on my to do list. I think this was Bill’s 7th time and he would do it again.

Tomorrow is a fishing day. Wish us luck.