Trip highlights

Orca Whales in the Valdez Arm During Columbia Glacier Cruise

Trip highlights for May 31st, 2024

Captain Caleb and his crew had a great day out on the water during their Columbia Glacier Excursion. After a beautiful day visiting Columbia Glacier, they were greeted by members of the AE Orca pod on the way home.

Orcas are a fan favorite to see during the day for good reason! These animals are some of the larger marine mammals in Prince William Sound. They can be up to 27 feet in length and weigh 13,000 pounds! The AE pod are considered resident whales, and a ‘pod’ is the Orca’s family unit. Orcas are classified into two different groups, residents and transients, although these names can be misleading. Our friends at the North Gulf Oceanic Society described it best: resident orcas are loud-mouthed salmon-hungry swim-with-their-mother whales, and transients are the quiet, stealthily hunters of other marine mammals.

Orcas are such neat animals! The AE pod is regularly seen in Prince William Sound during Alaska glacier cruises. Both our Meares Glacier Excursion and Columbia Glacier Excursion give visitors the opportunity to see these majestic creatures in Prince William Sound. When whales are spotted onboard either the Valdez Spirit or Glacier Spirit, our captain and crew will try to identify which pod they belong to! Orca are identified using their ‘saddle patch’. This is the white spot below their dorsal fin. The AE pod has a large number of it’s males that have collapsed, or flopped over, dorsal fins that are used to identify them in addition to their saddle patches.

Orca whales are just a few of the awesome animals that were seen on May 31st with Captain Caleb and crew! They saw Dall’s porpoise, sea otters, Steller sea lions, a variety of birds including bald eagles, murres, oystercatchers and the pigeon guillemot. They even saw mountain goats up in Columbia Bay! It was a phenomenal day out in Prince William Sound on our Columbia Glacier Excursion.