So there we were, cruising along through Prince William Sound. You might wonder why American waters bear the name of Britain's most popular royal. Coincidence it turns out. It was actually named the Sandwich Sound by James Cook when he sailed through here in 1778 (named for the explorations founder, the Earl of Sandwich, the future King William IV of England). The editor so the map later renamed it after the Earl's son, Prince William.
In more recent history, you might associate Prince William Sound with another event. In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez left the port of Valdez, Alaska and hit the Bligh reef in the sound, spilling about 750,000 barrells of oil into the sea here. The spill killed hundreds of thousands of birds and mammals, including killer whales, bald eagles, and sea otters. I remember watching the news a a teenager in the middle of landlocked Saskatchewan, and being horrified. I swore that if something like this ever happened again when I was "grown up" I would find a way to help. That led to the little incident described in
Men Who Won't Wash Ducks" (apparently one of my best stories ever), and 26 years after the Exxon Valdez...here I was in Prince William Sound.
And it is stunning. I imagine what it must have been like for Captain Cook, under the flapping of sails rather than the roar of an engine.
The captain told us that waters are known for their sea otters. In fact, the sea otters like the water fairly brisk, so we could expect to see them closer to the glaciers. What they didn't mention, was that Sea Otters are still an endangered species, and their numbers are currently decreasing. Alaska is one of the strongholds in the sea otter's range, so if you are lucky enough to see them, don't be fooled into thinking they are a thriving population. There are only about 100,000 left in the entire world -- when you think of the length of coastline along Russia and North America, you realize how few that really is.
And so I felt incredibly lucky when the ship slowed and we saw a little blob floating in its water. A sea otter! Floating characteristically on its back, it's little feet in the air. It was adorable!! Now, I learned when I got home that I have not mastered the art of photography enough that I can stand on a bobbing boat on the ocean and take a picture of an object bobbing in the water at a different rate 50 feet away and get a clear shot. So these are my somewhat blurry otter pictures.
What I learned, is that where you think you see one otter, you are almost always seeing at least two otters. Every time, they would be hanging out together, cuddled up or playing otter footsie.
Sea Otters are quite fascinating to me. These small little fluffballs that float in the frigid northern waters have no blubber, like seals or whales...they rely on ridiculously thick soft fur to keep them warm. That is what got them initially hunted to the brink of extinction. Not one of the finer moments of humanity. Underneath that soft fur, they are densely muscled littler critters. Those tiny little otters weigh at least 30 pounds each...some upwards of 100 pounds! It's little nose and ears can close when it dives for mussels and shellfish...and move over apes, sea otters have been using tools forever. They will get a rock, a mussel or clam, float on their back with the rock on their belly, and bash the shell into the rock until they can get dinner out of the shell. But more about that amazing fur. Keeping body heat is possible by keeping their fur impeccably clean...they are constantly grooming, and squeezing water out of the fur and blowing air into it to make it fuffier and drier. In fact, moms will groom and puff the baby otters up so much that the little fellas just float from all the air in their fur. Basically, sea otters are awesome.
Far too soon, we were back on our way to the glaciers, watching these little heads and flippers bob away into the distance.
I longed to be on Captain Cook's ship...there would have been so much more wildlife...and we would have passed through it so much slower. But...26 glaciers awaited us. And they too had stories to tell.
These glaciers are mostly Tidewater Glaciers. This just means they flow all the way to the ocean. They "calve" or break off into the ocean, creating icebergs. Many of Alaska's tidewater glaciers have receded...they no longer reach the ocean. A generation ago, they did. 2 generations ago, the areas we cruised through were also ice. The glaciers are in a clear retreat. Gazing at the black and white photos displayed on the screens of the same glaciers in the days of black and white was sobering. We were scheduled to see a glacier that IS still a tidewater glacier. But we will save those pictures for another day.
