VALDEZ - JUNE 11 - 14

The drive to the west coast town of Valdez on the Richardson Highway is incredibly beautiful with majestic snowy mountains, the Worthington Glacier and Bridal Vail Waterfall being highlights.

Bridal Vail Falls.
Across the highway we heard the thundering roar of the water,
and felt and the mist from the waterfall as it hit the ground and sprayed into the air.

HAPPY HOUR WITH THE EAGLES
We pulled into Bayside RV Park for a 2 night stay that turned into a 4 night stay.  With a campsite facing the rugged snowy mountains and overlooking a wildlife preserve, this prime piece of real estate couldn't be beat.  In addition to the surrounding stunning landscape, every day from May to mid-June, there is an "Eagle Show" right in front of our site.  At about 5:00 we would pour ourselves a cocktail and watch as spectators armed with cameras, and hungry eagles and seagulls started arriving for happy hour.  While it's illegal to feed wild eagles, the fellow who does this at our campground has been issued a permit every year for the past 20 to do so.  The eagles stop coming around mid-June when they start feeding on fresh herring that move into the area.

The eagles are masters at catching the herring with their beaks or talons as the fish are thrown into the air.

The sky was filled with swooping and gliding eagles.

A Golden Eagle and an adult Bald Eagle take a rest and wait for a herring to be tossed their way.

A FISH STORY - June 13
At 6:45 a.m. we boarded the Jamie Lynn for a 12 hour fishing trip.  There were 4 other fishermen in our group along with Captain Josh and Gary the deck hand.

After analyzing the currents, tide, weather, and bottom structure, Captain Josh picked a spot 110 miles out into Prince William Sound where he was confident we would catch big Halibut and several Rock Fish.  The day was sunny, the seas calm, and anticipations high for a great day of fishing.  Leaving Valdez Harbor, we approached the narrows and going against the in-coming tide the boat slammed waves while we bounced hard and wildly in our seats; thank God the Captain offered dramamine before we left the harbor.  Once through the narrows, it was pretty much smooth sailing.  On the way to the fishing grounds we saw seals, sea otters, sea lions, and porpoise.

These female sea lions found a resting place in the middle of the ocean.

It took about 4 hours to get to THE spot.  Once anchored, we started our day of fishing.

About 3 minutes after getting my line in the water, my pole bent and I yelled "FISH ON!".  The fish fought, I reeled, the fish fought, I reeled and reeled, my arms got tired, I kept on reeling and about 5 minutes later the first Halibut was in the boat.  What felt like a 150 pound monster at the end of my line turned to to be a nice sized 50 pounder.

Winner winner, fishy dinner!  

As the rest of the fishing party got their lines in the water, Black Rock Fish and Yellow Eyed Rock Fish were being pulled in one after the other.  As the tide and currents changed, the fish quit biting so Captain Josh moved the boat about a quarter mile to a better spot.  As soon as the boat was anchored, my fishing buddies started yelling "FISH ON!" and Halibut started landing in the boat.

Jim caught this 69 pound beauty.

It didn't take long for everyone in our boat to fill their daily limit of 1 Halibut and 4 Rock Fish. The largest Halibut caught was 79 pounds (which in these parts is not considered that big).

We arrived back at the dock at 6:30; Josh and Gary sorted and unloaded the day's catch.

Happy fishermen with our catch.
The Black Rock Fish are in the foreground, the orange colored fish are the Yellow Eyed Rock Fish,
and the big white bellied fish are the Halibut.

A fish cutter was waiting at the dock to quickly fillet our fish.
The seagulls stuffed themselves on the discarded remains.

The filleted fish were put in a wheel barrow, then we pushed it across the street to Easy Freeze.
They processed, vacuumed packed and froze our fish for pick up the next day.
With 74.6 pounds of processed fish, we stuffed our freezer and the remaining
17 pounds of Halibut that didn't fit in the freezer was shipped back to New Richmond.

A LITTLE DISASTER HISTORY - Visits to the Museums - June 14
REBUILDING VALDEZ
On the afternoon of March 27, 1964, the Great Alaskan Earthquake rocked and rolled the western coast of Alaska.  The powerful quake measured 9.9 and along with the tsunami it caused, Old Valdez was devastated with loss of life and property.  A few years later, the town was moved and rebuilt at it's present and safer location which is situated on bedrock.  One interesting fact about the move is that the 2 families who owned the land where new Valdez now sits, donated the land "because it was the right thing do".

EXXON VALDEZ
The trans-Alaskan Pipeline carries crude oil from the North Slope oil fields at Prudhoe Bay to the marine terminal in Valdez where it is loaded onto tankers and shipped out to refineries.  A series of unfortunate events on March 24,1989 caused one of the worst human caused oil spills in North America when the Exxon Valdez oil tanker got off course, ran onto a reef and spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the pristine waters of Prince William Sound.  Hundreds of thousands of birds, seals, sea otters, whales, fish, and other wildlife perished as a result of being covered with the thick crude or eating contaminated food.  The clean-up effort took several years and while the wildlife has made a come back, the environmental damage is still present today.  As a result of this disaster, several safety measures have been put in place to reduce the chances of another spill incident.