July 7th Day 16 of Alaska Trip

If I could imagine a perfect day in Alaska, it would probably include a boat trip, viewing lots of marine and wildlife, fun and challenging motor-biking, meeting interesting people, eating delicious food, and being in the Great Outdoors. So, there you have it --what we did today in a nutshell! We got in line for the Ferry out of Valdez Harbor at 7am and were soon underway for the 6 hour boat ride through the Gulf of Alaska over to Whittley on the Kenai Peninsula. The weather was nice again today, but with a smoky haze of three different wildfires burning inland from lightening strikes. The view from the upper deck was breathtaking, calm seas with steep snow capped mountains rising from the horizon and out from the sea. Through the thickish air, we could just barely make out Columbia Glacier several miles away, which calves into the sea spreading icebergs in our path. I had heard that only 10% of an iceberg is visible above water, so I am not sure how the Ferry Captain avoided hitting them, some were extremely close. Some bergs had sea lions resting on them and we also observed numerous sea otters on their backs floating on the water surface. Off the starboard bow, two whales surfaced - heading in the opposite direction. There were several other motor-bikers on the Ferry with us and we quickly made their acquaintance. One lady we had crossed paths with before on two separate occasions along the trip – once in Tok and again in Glennallen. She was traveling with two other women on a combination motor-biking/fly fishing trip – coming from the Boston area and riding the Alcan. I’d say they were all at least in their sixties or seventies. There was one riding on an older 1500 Wing three-wheeler that was a real pistol! Hell…, they all looked pretty good standing next to Leroy – (who went to High School with George Washington) - so that probably helps!!! Another motor-biking couple had flown over from France. They had their bike shipped from overseas and were riding up to Prudhoe Bay, the farthest town to the north on the Arctic Ocean. Anyway, it was a fine boat trip and now for the really fun part once we came ashore at Whittier… There is a looooong tunnel that is just big enough for a train. It is also used for cars and motorcycles, but there isn’t room for everybody at once, so every fifteen minutes the flow of traffic is reversed so motorist can take turns going in and out of the tunnel using the one single lane. All motor traffic is stopped when a train is using the tunnel, of course. Now, here is the fun part – riding your motorcycle in a long, small, dark, slippery wet tunnel trying to stay exactly in the middle - between the tracks! BTW, if dark places where the walls feel like they are closing in creep you out – this so isn't the place for you! What a relief it was to finally exit the other side of the tunnel into fresh air and sunlight. The last to exit the tunnel was a guy and his wife riding an older Wing two-up and pulling a sleeper trailer that was slipping and sliding all over Hell and back. His wife demanded two scoops of ice cream and a clean pair of panties before she could fully recover from the ordeal! On the bright side, we soon came to Portage Glacier – a really huge glacier that dumps into the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, named for Captain Cook who sailed these seas just before getting himself killed in Hawaii. There are over 25 glaciers on Kenai Peninsula, so you can imagine how beautifully the bluish white ice changes to lushly green foresty highlands, grassy meadows, and rushing rivers. White water rafting, fly fishing, and hiking are all really big here, also tons of wildlife live in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. We saw a couple of moose up close as we headed for the southern tip of the peninsula. Anybody with a lick of sense knows that we got Alaska from the Russians, but it is fairly obvious seeing all those Roosky names for streets, towns, and such. In Ninilchik, we pulled in at the ancient Russian Orthodox Church sitting cliffside, doors opening to a terrific view out to sea. While we were yakking it up with this couple from Minnosota, a Bald Eagle soared above us for the longest time. We watched it dive down to the water and circle back with a nice fish in his talons. We finally pulled into the town of Homer, along the Kachemak Bay. I have seen it referred to as “The Halibut Fishing Capital of Alaska” and also as the “Cosmic Hamlet by the Sea”… oh, whatever!!! Total miles traveled by motorbike about 200.