PHILLIPS CRUISES & TOURS

the 26 Glacier Cruise is the Anchorage area's premier and only tour. It takes you on a tour of the 26 glaciers in this part of the vast Prince William Sound that extends to Valdez. Phillips Cruises takes you to see these ice giants up close, hear them crack, and observe the marine life that populates the fjords where the boats gently intrude. From Whittier, several hours of cruising in a wild environment await you, guaranteed without seasickness thanks to the calm waters of the area. The service on board is modern, the staff informative and professional. Lunch is included on board with non-alcoholic beverages, and the proposed menus are of high quality.

Prince William Sound stretches from Whittier in the west to Valdez in the north and Cordova in the east. It was named in 1778 by the navigator George Vancouver in honor of the future British sovereign William IV (William IV). It is infamous for the Exxon Valdez oil spill that had a disastrous environmental impact in 1989 and the years that followed. Today, although the story remains in the memory, the bay has regained its tourist appeal, and is better known for its rich marine life, its sculpted fjords and, above all, its hundreds of glaciers - including the 51 km long Columbia - and thousands of icebergs that repopulate its deep waters every year. Some cruise companies take you to discover these ice giants, and the marine fauna that lives alongside them: whales, orcas, sea otters, seals, Dall's dolphins, eagles and other migratory birds. You can explore them by boat, either from Whittier with the Phillip Cruise agency (the 26 glaciers excursion), or from Valdez, on the other side of the bay, but much less accessible from Anchorage. There are three types of glaciers:

Alpine or Hanging Glaciers, are the small glaciers that, as their name implies, hang from the mountainsides.

Piedmont glaciers , whose name originates from our language, are the glaciers that are literally located at the "foot" of the mountains.

Tidewater glaciers are those that flow into the ocean. It is not uncommon to observe huge blocks of ice being detached by the action of the heating of the water on this glacier which advances naturally into the sea, pushed by its own weight.