I like Valdez. Cool fishing village, good food (Nat’s Shack and The Fat Mermaid), the spectacular Prince Willam Sound with all it’s glaciers, two good museums and oddly, little domestic-type bunny rabbits running around.
We spent a few days in Valdez exploring and sea kayaking. We took a small tour boat (Pangea Adventures) to the foot of the famous 37 mile long Columbia Glacier and then paddled around among the icebergs. Unfortunately, the glacier is receding very fast – basically just falling apart. In fact, we could not even get close to the main face because of the ice in the water – we approached an arm of the glacier, kind of around the corner from the main channel.
I once paddled alone between Valdez and the Columbia Glacier and when taking the tour boat this time it seems like such a long way, but it turns out I paddled about 15 miles less then because the glacier hadn’t retreated much.
Airplane or not, you really should leave Valdez via Prince William Sound. If by air, a great route is flying low over boats and whales through one of the most picturesque parts of Prince William Sound to Whittier. Well, I’ve heard there are whales out there, but I have yet to have seen one. Overfly Whittier and fly through Portage Pass, less than 2,000 feet AGL. There are two webcams at the pass you can use when at Valdez to determine whether to launch or not.
Don’t bother landing at Whittier (1,500 feet, gravel) or at least be aware it’s a short one-way strip subject to high winds and plentiful rain triggered by the warm Prince William Sound air flowing through the pass. I made the mistake of having Portage Pass on my list of weather stations I was tracking while we were at Seward. It seemed like rain was in the general area every day but it became evident there was rain every day, but only in Portage Pass.
My friend Jeff landed in Whittier with his mountain bike and fishing pole. After a great day fishing it was too windy to depart. He spent three days there waiting for the winds to abate and finally took off downwind over the water in one of the scariest take-offs of his life. The plane was in ground effect until out over the water and then sank to mere feet above the water, still apparently in ground effect.
After all that – there isn’t a lot of motivation for me to land there.
If you don’t have an airplane a good trick to remember is taking the Alaska State Ferry from Valdez to Whittier instead of driving back out of Valdez and going around. You get to experience an absolutely beautiful part of Prince William Sound and experience the best of Whittier, which, in my opinion, is just passing right through and leaving Whittier by driving down the cool one-way tunnel that alternates direction every hour and occasionally switches to train.
Once you are through Portage Pass, either by airplane or vehicle, you can head north to Anchorage or to any of the Homer Peninsula destinations.
BTW, If you are a single male, you can have an authentic Alaskan experience by staying at the Valdez Mancamp just across from the airport. A mancamp is a very basic place, think shipping containers. It was built for oil pipeline workers and is still used by oil pipeline maintenance crews and cannery workers. I stayed there for one night in a tiny room, and when you enter the office, there’s a list of rules that includes, “No visitors, No weapons, No fighting.” The TV in the nearby lounge was so loud I could barely hear the receptionist. I’m sure you could stay here as a female too, but I’m guessing it may not be as interesting. It is, however, much cheaper than staying in a hotel.
West Coast Flying Adventures 