Whittier, Whales and Wildlife Viewing Boardwalk

Inside the Anton- Anderson Memorial Tunnel

Whittier is a tiny village located on the Northeast side of the Kenai Peninsula on the Passage Canal. By land it is reached via the Anton -Anderson Memorial Tunnel along the Portage-Glacier Hwy. On the way there, we stopped at the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center. I love Visitor Centers. So many of them have unique exhibits. Begich-Boggs has a clear tunnel that looks out at Portage Lake. The water has icebergs floating in it. They are formed when Portage Glacier the far end of the lake calves. The center also has exhibits on the Arctic environment. It's worth a stop.
Continuing on, we reached the tunnel. I have driven and ridden through plenty of tunnels, but none like this one. It is about two and a half miles long, and is quite unique. It tunnels through the Maynard Mountain. The inside of it has bare rock walls that are wet. It is one lane wide, has a concrete driving surface and has railroad tracks right in the roadway. It feels slippery and uneven. Very eery.I have to admit that we were both a little creeped out by the experience. The tunnel opens for 15 minutes to allow cars going in one direction to proceed through. It then closes for 15 minutes to allow vehicles to clear out, and reopens for 15 minutes for cars going in the opposite direction. If a train needs to pass through, all traffic must wait. You definitely have to plan ahead if you are going to visit this place. After passing through the tunnel, we made it to Whittier. The downside was that we had to go back through it to leave.
 Whittier consists of a few shops and cafe's, a harbor for small boats and a harbor for cargo ships and day cruises. It looks like a movie set. There really isn't much to see in the town but for some reason it was still kind of neat. Maybe it was the isolation or the effort it takes to get there.
 We opted to take a 5 hour cruise with Major Marine Tours. We paid extra for the fresh Alaskan salmon and prime rib lunch served on board. They sold hot drinks on the boat so we indulged. It was the perfect day for a hot toddy--rainy and chilly. I ordered a Hot Otter and Chris got a Kenai Kicker. Mine was hot chocolate with liquors in it, and Chris' was coffee with liquors. Both were topped with whipped cream. If you are picturing a fancy day cruise, think again! We were in our camping clothes, which smelled like campfire. Since it was rainy, everyone on board was sporting some type of weatherproof outfit. Some were more interesting than others. We were among the youngest people on the ship. Everyone lined up like cattle to go through the food line. Despite the weather, the cruise turned out to be fantastic. There was a United States Forest Service Ranger on board and he was a wealth of information about the area, the wildlife, history, etc. He did his spiel but it wasn't one of those boring old people talks. He kept an eye out for any signs of animals in the water or nearby shoreline and would point them out for us. He hung out on the deck for long periods of time to help us watch for whales. We were told that they normally see 2-3 whales per week in this particular area. We saw five that day! I couldn't have been happier. They were kind enough to give us some good tail flips, which resulted in a whole bunch of very excited passengers. Everyone started running around the boat, taking pictures and making new friends with whomever was standing beside them. Funny how the site of a big animal in the water can change the whole atmosphere. The hot toddies probably helped too. We also saw sea otters, harbor seals, Kittiwakes, and a bald eagle. Sea otters are really interesting to watch. First of all, they are bigger than I realized at five feet long and over 100 pounds. They were hanging out in the water floating on their backs or lying on big chunks of ice that came off of the glaciers. They were swimming in frigid water but they looked like they were lounging in a tropical ocean. Two different times the captain stopped the boat within an eighth of a mile of glaciers and cut the engine. There were huge chunks of ice in the water. I felt like I was on a mini Titanic. We got to see both of the glaciers calve several times. All of the passengers erupted in cheers every time. In case you don't know what it means when a glacier calves, let me explain. In a nutshell, it is when huge sections of ice crack and fall off of a glacier and essentially become icebergs. The sound is very loud, and once the ice hits the water it causes waves. Those waves eventually hit the boat causing it to rock. It was amazing to see. We passed by a number of other glaciers as we cruised. At one point we passed a large group of kayakers in the water. They were participants in a study on the impact of use on the land and were sent out there to camp near the water. Not a bad job! After we disembarked and made it back through the scary tunnel, we headed back toward Eagle Eye's house in Wasilla.
 We took In some great views at our second pass by Turnagain Arm. Along the way there was this unusual looking area that had many, many wooden boardwalks. We pulled in to what turned out to be Potter's Marsh Wildlife Viewing Boardwalk. Huge wooden walkways had been built through wetlands teaming with wildlife. We saw a young male moose, a bald eagle, and a family of geese. This was our last day of sightseeing and it was a great one.
We got back to Eagle Eye's house and shared photos of the two week trip. The next day consisted of packing, souvenir shopping, and dinner with Eagle Eye. He cooked fresh salmon, bear, and rabbit. We are not hunters or game eaters but we tasted what was on the table. My husband liked the bear but had a hard time eating the rabbit. I disliked both, but disliked the rabbit less. The fish was delicious. We left for the airport with hundreds of photos and as many memories.
 The next post will be the last Alaska post. I will give an overview of our route so you can follow it on a map. After that, I will move across the country to some off the beaten path places that we have enjoyed. At some point I will head back across to the West coast to tell you about some places that we enjoyed in Washington, Oregon, and California.

Glacier just after calving