Glacier Cruise day in Whittier

It was a very early start for us today from Anchorage to board the Cruise in Whittier around Noon timeframe. Whittier is 62 miles from Anchorage and there is a tunnel that you have to cross which opens every one hour for only 15 minutes. This is a shared tunnel for passenger cars and trains between Anchorage and Whittier. So if you are planning to drive on u’r own, plan your trip time considering the tunnel schedule.

The route of our glacier cruise starts from Whittier and ventures into the calm, protected waters of Prince William Sound to view Alaska’s glaciers up-close. We boarded the cruise around 12.30 PM and there were Junior ranger programs for the kids inside the cruise. Arvind & Sooraj had a good time doing that activity for some time. There were close to 15 kids on board that did this activity and took a oath to protect the Chugach National forest plus they received the souvenir badges for successfully completing their program :-)We travelled through the Passage Canal around Decision point where we had stunning views of the Tebenkof Glacier which was a Piedmont glacier

There were gorgeous waterfalls surrounding both sides of the glaciers. We had the opportunity to get a closer view of the Hidden falls. We had a stop in front of the huge Blackstone and Beloit glaciers that was a treat to watch and see the falling ice from the glaciers. There were hundreds of photographs taken at this one single point :-). The photographs came out very well as the weather was pretty good. We had almost an hour time watching these glaciers and hearing the rumbling noises of the falling ice.

We also had a chance to taste the glacier ice in our Margarita (of course virgin margarita) as none of us in our group drink 🙂

We also had a chance to see the Sea Otters, Sea gulls, Bald eagles on our way to the glaciers. We spotted an army of seagulls sitting on the top of the mountain and having fun with their gang in the water. It was a delight to watch so many seagulls all at one place.

A beautiful first day of our trip to start with the Glacier sight seeing. On our way back to Anchorage, we visited a Nepali restaurant for dinner. This is a must go place and the food was amazing and super high quality food. If you get a chance to visit Anchorage, visit Namaste Shangri-La restaurant : http://namasteshangrila.com/. The Chicken calamari and Saag Paneer was too good and would love to go to this place again :-).

We are heading to Seward tomorrow – another scenic drive and looking forward to the adventure.