June 8th, 2024 Part 3 of 3 - Lu-Lu Belle Tour of Prince William Sound - Sea Life

I love taking pictures of creatures - some are just too beautiful and some are funny and beautiful.

SEA OTTERS

"HMMMM - More tourists!"

"I am SOOO Cute!:

Scratching my head - "Oh, that feels good.":

"We are watching you - except the guy in front.  He just sleeps all day."

"Leave me alone!"

"HEY!":

"What is all that noise?"

Stretching!:

Continuing to stretch:

Roll over:

"Hey!  Were you watching me this whole time?"

SEA LIONS

Dreaming away:

"Wake up - We have company!":

"Who are you?":

"This is my best side.":

"Hello":

"I LOVE the water.":

"Take my picture, please.":

"Singing my song.":

"Yes, I know.  I look just like my brother from the other beach - but I am the cuter one.":

"RUN!":

Just hanging out on the ice:

"You again?":

"I love my baby!":

They all have such great expressions.

What a wonderful day!

Stay tuned for more adventures!

June 8th, 2024 Part 2 of 3 - Lu-Lu Belle Tour of Prince William Sound - Glaciers

 GLACIERS AND ICEBERGS

On our way to the Columbia Glacier - we are 14 miles away at this point.

There is a lot of information on the Glacier here:

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/ColumbiaGlacier

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149445/alaskan-ice-in-retreat-35-years-at-columbia-glacier#:~:text=But%20in%201980%2C%20the%20glacier,your%20eyes%20would%20see%20it.

This is the second largest tidewater glacier in North America and it flows directly into the sea.

Large areas of floating ice:

River otters taking a break:

Mountain Goats on the hillside:

The Colombia Glacier:

Since 1980, the glacier has retreated 15 miles:

Seals taking a break:

Other glaciers and branches of the Colombia Glacier:

We are the blue dot on the glacier:

We did not get up close and personal because of the floating ice (called the ice “mélange), so we boated to three other glaciers:

This one we did see some "calving" - it sounds like a shotgun when it breaks.

The resulting mini-tsunami after falling into the water:

One last look as we left the glaciers behind:

On our way back we saw more sea otters (I call them the rabbits of the water).:

And some sea life followed us for a while.

We did not see any big whales but that is okay.  It was a WONDERFUL trip and I highly recommend.

I do have a Part 3 to this blogs - Sea Life up close!