The Tide Is High

Today is a free day for us and the sun is shining. I took a short walk into town where I made arrangements to go kayaking tomorrow and found a cute place called Latte Dah for some Chai Tea. The harbor is picturesque with fishing boats and docks surrounded by mountains.

Jeff and I took a drive to see the sights and turned onto a dirt road which had been the town of Valdez before the 1964 earthquake. It had been a thriving little community that was completely destroyed, then condemned as unsafe and the town was rebuilt farther down the road. There was an outline where the post office had stood and some information panels, but that is it. Very sad.

Farther down we found Dayville Road which would become a favorite place in Alaska. It is a long stretch out to the Alyeska Pipe Line Terminal where they have huge oil storage tanks and shipping facilities. Along the way is a salmon hatchery, electric plant, fishing areas and camping spaces. We were fascinated as thousands of pink salmon were in the water making their way upstream to spawn and then die. In the photos above the water is completely covered with so many salmon you could walk across.

We spent lots of time watching the determined salmon and also the sea lions, otters, gulls and eagles that come to eat them. The otters are a hoot as they catch a salmon and then lie on their back to float and eat. They hold the wiggling fish in their paws and chew away. After a few bites they discard the fish and dive for another. The delighted gulls patiently circle the otters and eat the remnants. It is a little sad, but nature and survival at its best.

The area also has a fish ladder which is man made to help the salmon go upstream and avoid the hydro dam. The bad part for the fish is the hatchery. To ensure the salmon will spawn and make new little salmon, they are "helped???" by humans. They are caught and slaughtered in this building and sorted by sex. Then their eggs are harvested and fertilized. After incubation and hatching the young fry get large enough to be released into the open water. After a few years in the ocean they will come back here to spawn unless they are hooked, netted or eaten along the way. And that folks is the life cycle of a salmon.. enjoy your next meal!

After hours of salmon viewing we drove another dirt road to a glacial lake near the mouth of Valdez Glacier. I will come back here tomorrow to kayak. Also visited the Crooked Creek Salmon Spawning Center where they had a viewing platform over a stream. There was very little water and the salmon were working hard to get through the current. We watched and had great respect for these fish. They even have an underwater camera here so you can see the struggle from all angles.

Later we spent some time at the campground and after dinner returned to Dayville Road to watch the salmon again. We saw the bear in the photo along the road happily eating grass.