Day 25 Ferry to Whittier

We were up early to be at the Alaska Marine Highway terminal at 7:00Am to load on the MV Aurora for the trip through Prince William Sound to Whittier on the Kenai Peninsula. The trip was a beautiful cruise through sheltered areas of mountains, glaciers, heavily wooded islands. The US Forest provides an interpreter on the ferry system who provides running commentary of the area. Shortly after leaving Valdez we passed through the narrows into Prince Willam Sound amd we passed Bligh Island and Bligh Reef, site of The Exxon Valdez grounding and the resulting oil spill. The Sound has mostly recovered from the spill although certain species of animals, birds, and marine life are still affected. We saw a couple of humpback whales, sea lions, porpoise, and birds.
Alaska has over 5,000 glaciers, most of which remain unnamed. We arrived in Whittier around 2:00PM, picked up our mail hat we had forwarded to the Whittier Post Office, and after a short stay got in line to exit the 2..5 mile long Anderson Tunnel, a tunnel shared by auto traffic and trains that is the only way out of Whittier except by boat. For fifteen minutes each hour auto traffic has use of the tunnel in each direction so if you miss the fifteen minute window it will be an hour wait for the next opportunity to leave Whittier.
We drove out onto the Kenai to Seward to spend a few days with Art & Jo Savoy, fellow Mexico caravanners last winter. Art & Jo came up from Prince Rupert, BC on the ferry and have spent the past two weeks touring Alaska with the their daughter and her friend. This is their second trip to Alaska by RV so they are more knowledgeable of the attractions. We had dinner in Seward and finally picked up our Great Alaska Tour Saver book at Safeway last night. We will use the book to plan tours and attractions for the next few weeks.