Ketchikan Off The Beaten Path Tips by margaretvn

Take a trip from Sitka and go...

Take a trip from Sitka and go and see the sea otters.
The waters in the Inside passage form some of the world's richest wildlife habitat. Sea otters, whales, eagles, sea lions, seals, porpoises and many sea birds make thier home in or around the waters surrounding Sitka.

Address and tel: Allen Marine Tours, P.O. Box 1049, Sitka, Alaska 99835-1049. tel (907) 747-8100

Glacier Bay Natioanal Park and...

Glacier Bay Natioanal Park and Preserve.
It is hard to imagine that the shorelines we cruised along in Glacier Bay were completely covered in ice just 200 years ago. Catain G. Vancouver discovered Icy Strait choked with ice in 1784 and then Glacier Bay was a barely indented glacier. It was more than 4,000 feet thick and about 20 miles wide. It also extended more than 100 miles to the St. Elias Mountain range. By 1879 John Muir (a naturalist) found that the ice had retreated 48 miles up the bay. The park includes 16 tidewater glaciers with 12 of them actively calving into the bay and we were lucky enough it see that. It is a fantastic sight, huge blocks of ice break loose and crash into the water.