Alaska Landmarks

Prince William Sound and the College Fjords
On most one way cruises either north or southbound you’ll spend a day cruising through Prince William Sound and College Fjords.  Prince William Sound is a very special wilderness area. 

There are many small mostly native settlements along it’s shores, along with some fair size towns like Valdez, Cordova and Whittier.  Unfortunately, Prince William Sound in recent memory is more recognized as the catastrophe that was the Exxon Valdez grounding in 1989.  Despite Exxon’s publicity minded “clean up efforts” Prince William Sound has once again proven the resilience of Mother Nature and done an absolutely amazing job of cleaning herself up over the years.

The College Fjords get their name from the 1899 Harriman Expedition to Alaska which was financed in part by the Ivy League schools and had with a large contingency of Ivy League scientists of different fields of study.  They named the glaciers found in College Fjords after their schools and since then the College Fjords label has been given to the area.  The names of fourteen of the College Fjord glaciers are Amherst, Baby, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Crescent, Dartmouth, Downer, Harvard, Holyoke, Smith, Vassar, Wellesley, Williams, and Yale. 

Columbia Glacier used to be the big attraction to the area but has receded in recent years to a point too far back from its terminal moraine to be as impressive as it once was.  The entire area makes for a great day of cruising and some wonderful glacier experiences are there to be had.