Kayaking around icebergs in Alaska.

My grandma, my siblings and I at our lunch stop.

A couple years ago (2015) my mom, my 5 siblings, my grandma, and my aunt and I went to Alaska for about 2 months.  While there we discovered what I would consider one of my favorite places on earth, Valdez Alaska. Valdez is located in Prince William sound, and the drive to valdez is simply breath-taking. You drive through a canyon, mountains on either side, waterfalls every where you look and glaciers tucked away between the mountains.

Upon arriving in valdez we walked through town and talked to the tour companies to see what was available.

We found a tour company named Anadyr Adventures. Through them we booked a 10 hour kayak trip up to the Columbia glacier. (TEN hours in a kayak oh my..) my mom and my aunt decided that was a bit too long of a tour for them so they took a boat trip instead.

We showed up early the day of our tour. They took us outside showed us the 2 person kayaks we'd be using, explained how we would get in and out of them and paddle. Then it was time to gear up. I was wearing a hoodie and jeans.  Over that we all put on water proof pants (you know the kind with the bib that comes up) and rain jackets all in bright yellow and orange of course! They also gave us rain boots, life jackets and a kayak skirt. (A little skirt like thing you wear that stretches over the opening in the kayak to keep the water out) then we were ready to head out!

Pushing off!

We boarded a little water taxi and took a hour long boat trip out to where we would be kayaking. During this time, we got to meet our guide and learn about the area and all the wildlife we would see.

We pulled up to a gravel sandbar and unloaded the kayaks, we all buddied up and off we went!

The water was a odd gray color caused by all the silt in the water from the glacier crushing rocks down to a thin dust over hundreds of years. It was also very cold!

Right when we started there were icebergs everywhere! Some of them the size of houses!  We were a few miles from the glacier itself (the glacier recedes at a rate of 4 feet per day and was particularly active calving while we were there so we kept our distance)

The friendliest otter

there were sea otters all around us swimming and playing in the water and floating around on smaller peices of ice. They were extremely friendly and would come right up to our kayaks!

Over the next several hours we kayaked around giant icebergs, played with sea otters and watched the beautiful mountains. At one point we were quite close to a particularly large iceberg (about 50 feet tall) admiring the bright blue ice when it suddenly shook and flipped completely over! We were shocked.  It was so amazing to watch and as we bobbed around in the wake it caused we stared in awe at the amazing color of the fresh blue ice and how clear it was.

After awhile we stopped at a gravel bar and ate lunch. It was the 4th of July so our guide had brought some face paint with her, we painted flags on our faces then took off towards a hidden waterfall.

We went right up under this beautiful waterfall in a hidden cove then stopped and took a hike around a lilly pond. The ground was composed of mostly moss and you sunk in. It was like walking on a cloud.

Once our 8 hours of kayaking were up we met back up with the rest of the group boarded the boat and headed home.

On the boat trip home our captain spotted a pod of orcas (killer whales) and decided  to take us into the middle of the feeding pod of whales! The whales were twice the size of our little boat! There were about a dozen in all and we watched them for a half hour feeding on salmon.

We finnaly arrived back at port after a long  exhausting day. We went out for dinner at a local restaurant and informed our mom about all she missed out on. We took the next day off to celebrate the salmon festival then went kayaking again. But this time thru icecaves!