Shortly before 1pm, we eagerly boarded the 137-foot Klondike Express. It is advertised to be the largest, fastest and most luxurious catamaran in all of Alaska.

I had no way to know if it was "the" fastest, but I'll tell you this. It could flat-out move!!

What About Sea Sickness?

The ship was designed, we were told, to keep people from getting seasick (motion sickness). That sounded a little too good to be true.

I am usually prone to seasickness, and I, honestly, didn't feel sick at all, during the cruise.

I also can't remember seeing anyone else that was feeling sick. So the claim, thankfully for me, must have been true.

The Klondike Express has 3 decks, two of which are enclosed and heated. The heated decks were a very welcomed feature, due to the fact that we went on this cruise during the month of September.

It can start getting cold in September in Alaska. As you'll see from our photos, it was raining the day we went....but we had a great time anyway.

Even though the ship capacity is 342, we were only about half full on the day we took the glacier cruise. September is a little after the normal tourist season.

A Great View No Matter Where You Sit

The seating was assigned, but we moved around all the time. All the seating is centered around tables....four to a table. Sheri and I sat across from a nice couple from Manitoba Canada.

Of the ships three levels we had seats on the second level. The windows are huge, so the view is great no matter where you sit.

Killer Whales...Orcas Spotted!

We were just underway, and had been served our meal, when the captain cut the engines.

Then over the PA system, we were informed that a pod of Orcas was off to the right side of the ship!

At the announcement, everyone scrambled for the decks, forgetting about about any hunger that they might of had. The food would have to wait!

All in all, we saw five orcas.

They were swimming and playing a couple hundred feet off the starboard (the right) side of the ship.

At first, we all kept as quiet as possible, so much so, that we could hear the Orcas breathing in the silence.

Very, very cool!

After about 20 minutes, we headed back to our meals and the ship prepared to get underway again!

I had just got back inside, and the boat started to move, when the few remaining passengers out on the deck started yelling (squelling really!) with excitement!

My wife and I rushed back out on the deck to see three of the orcas that had swam right up along side the ship....real close! Here is a short video clip of the orca excitement.

I took it with my regular digital camera, so the quality isn't the best, but you will be able to see the orcas and feel the excitement of the moment. (I'll have to get me a better video camera, I promise!)

My Orca Video

This is the second time that I've been on a boat and had orcas come up along side. They never stay long, but they seem to like to play in a boats wake.

The other time that I experienced this, I was on a boat in the Ketchikan Alaska area.

The Glaciers

During the 135 mile glacier cruise, we were priviledged to see 26 spectacular glaciers. There are about 5 such glaciers that the tour stops at. They are the most spectatular and accessible of the 26.



When the ice breaks off of the glacier, that is called "calving". There is, of course, no guarantee that you will see this happening on any given Alaska glacier cruise, but you'll be in a great position to see it if it does.



When we'd pull up near one of the glaciers, everyone would be as quiet as possible. Everyone listening for any cracking sound, that might indicate some ice was ready to break off!

One thing that we were told was that, one needs to keep a close eye out for the breaking ice. Because once you hear the ice cracking, it's most likely too late.

The sound will reach you after the action has already happened.

I think this is because you'll think you are closer to the glacier than you actually are. I believe this is because of the imense size of the glaciers.

Food and Glacier Ice

The food was fish or chicken. I had the fish. It was not anything fancy, but it "hit the spot". The crew even served everyone warm chocolate chip cookies! What a treat, on a cold day in September!

At one of the glacier stops, the crew plucked, out of the deep and icy cold water, a chunk of floating glacier ice. It was broke it up and served with ice water. That ice was very clear! We were told that when we drank the melted ice, we were drinking water that was thousands of years old.

Strange, but a cool kind of new experience!

Wildlife on The Alaska Glacier Tour

I already mentioned the orcas, but additionally we saw otter, sea lions and bald eagles. Real briefly, some passengers saw porpoises. When you do see porpoises, they are always moving along very quickly. They are hard to see, sometimes, due to their color and the fact that they seem to alway be headed "from point A to point B"...and in a hurry!

Our Alaska Glacier Cruise Comes to an End

The cruise lasted about 4 and a half hours. We were back in Whittier, where we started from, at 5:30pm.

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