Seal Dreams

It's not just Otters and Orcas in the seas of Prince William Sound.  There are patches of seals sunning themselves on the ice flows as well.  This little dude has smugly claimed the best spot on the flow.  It's not easy to jockey for position when your primary source of movement out of water is similar to an inchworm.  That silly seal smile is well earned.

Seals seem to have a naturally wary expression.  The world has not been kind to them.  Orcas try to eat them,  Polar bears try to eat them.  Humans have a history of comitting seal atrocities.  Unfortunately those wary looks are also well earned.

The little fella on the left looks the most trusting I think.  Curious about what where to get a floaty boat instead of a giant ice cube I suspect.

This is about as warm and cozy as it gets in the life of an Alaska seal -- August.  They have to come close to the glacier to find a nice ice shelf to rest on these days.  Alaska continues to warm up.  In just a few years, there will be nowhere for these little guys to go.  2014 was recorded as the warmest year on record for Alaska.  Until 2015.  Then it was the warmest year on record.  And 2016?  Yes, just 4 days ago we posted another warmest day on record at 46 degrees Fahrenheit.  Climate change is all abuzz about the devastation that a 2 degree increase in temperature will have.  The Arctic is averaging 7 degrees above normal these days.  In general, us humans don't like change, particularly change we didn't consciously choose.  We aren't going to like life in a warmer world where land masses shrink, droughts and storms ravage and claim more lives -- and let's face it, when the going gets rough international conflicts get worse.  Economies crash.  But we shy away from the little choices that do change it.  The power to make changes in in the small changes of masses of people.  You CAN turn out the lights when you leave a room, turn off the tap between the start and finish of brushing your teeth, unplug electronics when not in use, walk a bit more, eat a little less meat.  Those little gestures multiplied by 7 billion people can literally change the world (well, the percent of the 7 billion who have running water and electricity at least).  You can't control others, but you can do your part...along with all the others who quietly do theirs, it adds up.  As for the seals, they can do nothing but look and hope the noisy creatures they see from time to time start making good choices.

But on this day, there was sunshine and a cozy ice flow to enjoy it on.  The skies were clear, the views crisp and outstanding.  If seals pass down history from generation to generation, they would know that this site has always been a good place to rest ones flippers.  The glacier has always been generous, providing a place of refuge.  Maybe the seals look up at the mountains, snowcapped peaks, and clear blue skies, and realize they are in a special kind of place. Maybe seals dream of exploring the land far beyond the shore, as humans dream of flight.

Who knows what things seals may dream of?  I know dreams my include a safe environment, one with ice flows and sunny days for every seal.  And that's why the toaster and blender only get plugged in immediately before use, and why the water is turned off why while I am brushing my teeth.  It's not much, but it's something.

I 'otter' get a new lens

One lens does not fit all.  It's sad but true.  And being in Alaska makes me realize I need at least one, if not two more.  But that doesn't change my collection of blurry otter pictures.  But blurry otter pictures are better than no otter pictures.  At least I can show that otters appear to be even cuter and cuddlier than I imagined, and more often than not, come as a bundle!

I do believe this is how otters give "noogies."

As peaceful as this looks, just spending your days floating around in the frigid water looking cute, otters have a lot to think about.  They need to keep alert for hungry orcas, find food in the frigid waters, and fluff, comb and groom their fur relentlessly keep it waterproof and stay warm and dry.

But at the same time, they get to enjoy what we call the simpler things in life.  Floating on calm clear waters, cuddled up with a loved one, enjoying the feeling of sun on your flippers.

Waiting for a bit of kelp or other delectables to float into range, and watching the tour boats of strange and exotic human animals zoom by in large herds, never stopping long enough to enjoy the scenery like the otters do.

And like humans, I suspect there are more than a few otters out there who are "old souls."  This little guy looks to be contemplating profound concepts of otter society and environmental issues.  I call him The Philosopher.  All that AND he is still adorably cute and cuddly looking.



As the boat engines roared up and we began to cruise away, I noticed this little group, watching up with mild interest.  For some reason I thought of a modern Hollywood Rat Pack.  That's George Clooney, the handsome grey guy in the center.  Matt Damon is over to his right, Ben Affleck on the left, and Mark Wahlberg in the background.  Yup, that's how my brain works.  Who needs entertainment when you have this dialogue in your head all day.  I am pretty sure otter Matt Damon is waving a flipper as we depart.  I think I shall have to go back to visit these little guys again this summer.

Glacier Close Up

The glaciers are shrinking, melting, retreating...that is clear.  They are still pretty big when you look at it from the perspective of a random human clinging to a rock that's spinning through space at a speed of 1000 mph.  But if you're the planet, they're getting pretty small.  Here is one beautiful example of what we stand to lose in the coming decades.

Here is another one.  The glacier is big, but those bare rocks in between the base and the top remind us that we would have taken a very different picture here just a decade ago.

That's right, a decade ago.  The tour boat driver, who was younger than I, said that when he started doing this, the boat couldn't get this close because the ice extended  beyond the edge of the mountain and into the sea.  The gray silt seen in the right of this picture is the glacial deposit.  10 years ago, this whole slope and several miles of the sea were all ice in the summer.

All that area...was glacier just 10 years ago.  Don't tell people in Alaska the world isn't changing.  It's changing before their eyes.

Glacier ice is an intense teal blue.  This is because glacial ice is actually compressed by the massive weight of the glacier itself density change causes a change in the refraction of light.  Blue light is scattered more.

Glacier are not just snow.  Because they move, there can be dirt, silt, and rocks mixed in the lower levels.

Here's a cross section of the glacier on zoom.

When the glacier calves (that's when pieces fall into the water), car or house size pieces are falling into the water.  How often does this happen?  Several times an hour it seems.  The tour operators know they can bring people out here and put the engine to idle and will be almost guaranteed a calving event in the 15-20 minutes they are here.

In addition to the calving, there is the melting.  Streams flow out of the glaciers constantly.

This looks to me more like a scene from Lord of the Rings and filmed in New Zealand.  Alaska has its green mountains as well.

One of my favorite spots in Canada, it the area by the Angel Glacier, on Mount Edith Cavell, in Jasper National Park.  The Angel Glacier is very small compared to this one.  But there is something otherworldly about the glaciers.  Perhaps its just they are one of the few things left on that are a bit mysterious to us still.  Sure the science is there, but unlike Caribbean beaches, less people come and see these natural beauties.  That's probably a good thing for the glaciers.  Or any ecosystem actually.

I like how there are so many unique shapes within the ice.

These spires reminded me of hoodoos in the badlands of the Midwest.

And this one I can't quite place but somewhere in the depths of my brain I am thinking it's a scene from an early 80's movie...maybe Labyrinth with David Bowie?  I am not sure.  It's very ice castle like.

The contrast of the landscape was very striking.  Ocean.  Glacier.  Greenery.  Ancient Rock.  Snow.  Pretty cool to see it all in one frame.

We got to stay long enough to see a calving, and take it all in.  It seems a type of reverence is due...how many more generations will see these masses of ice and the animals that thrive near them? It's a little sad to think of...but....

...we were happy to be able to see it for ourselves!  I hope to go back a few more times too!

Otters Away!

I have to admit, I saw more sea otters than I expected to see on the Klondike Express.  They  would pop up like tiny little puffballs, floating along in pairs or groups in the colder waters, out quite literally in the middle of nowhere.  A group of otters is called a raft.  We were lucky enough to happen across a raft of otters.  They were however, basking in the direct sun and so getting a great picture was a bit of a challenge...their cuteness was forever in their own little shadow.

This first little guy is doing ocean calisthetics.  Touching his little toes...maybe a few crunchies making sure he is fluffy but not fat.

He (or she,can't say I can tell who is who yet) stopped to give a curious glance our way.

Once he (or she) was satisfied we weren't coming any closer and didn't look like an Orca or anything else predatory, they stretched out and displayed a miiiighty big foot.  I always thought Bigfoot was a sasquatch...now I think it might just have been a sea otter who wandered onto land.

Otters seem to be quite friendly.  This little sweetie actually waved at us!

A few weren't very interested in us...they were having much more fun playing otter snuggles and weren't about to let us interrupt.

I said I couldn't tell if they were girls or boys...but the guy on the left definitely has to be a guy.  He's like Gandalph of the sea otters.

Doesn't get much sweeter than this!

A little grooming going on.

Otters look like they are the best huggers in the animal kingdom.

Even when they look a bit embarrassed to have been caught in the act.

Unfortunately, that's all I have for today.  I'm otter here...I mean outta here.  Lame.  I know.  I'm a lazy blogger :)

Sea Otter Sighting

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.