Monday 2nd July 2012 - South to Seward -9hrs BST

I left Anchorage at noon for the 140 mile journey to Seward to embark the Seven Seas Navigator. The Cook Inlet is s heavily silted with glacial sediment that even with dredging only the smallest of ships can safely dock so Seward is the nearest safe dock. Our driver explained that it was unusual but not unknown for the mountains to be snow capped in July. Last winter had witnessed very heavy snow falls with up to 140 inches in some places. If the snow does not melt by the end if July then it looks like being a long winter.
We were soon following the Turnagain Arm off the Cook Inlet, a vast fjord of shallow tidal water that stretches inland for some 50 miles. Its name was bestowed by Captain Cook in 1778 when he was forced it to 'turn again' after discovering that no sea link to the fabled North West passage could be found. scenery was truly spectacular. It is said that everything in Alaska is big. Few of the mountains along this route are less than 6000ft with most rising to over 10,000 ft.
The first natural feature about 30 miles south of Anchorage is a Coastal Wildlife Reserve comprising Potters Marsh a haven for nesting ducks, geese and swans but today all that could be seen is swathes of bright yellow lilly pads. Next a further 20 miles along this spectacular drive came Beluga Point where at a narrowing of the fjord a twice daily bore of 6ft can be seen. Named Beluga Point because the fjord is home to some 300 beluga whales who come here to breed. This distinctive beaked whale inhabits the Arctic, North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. The name beluga meaning 'white one' was probably given by Russian explorers who discovered them in the Bering Sea.
The mountains rise sheer in either side of the road with the Alaska Railroad squeezed in between the rock face and the road. The road and railway are subject to avalanche and a permanent road team keep the roads open throughout the harsh winters.
At the head of the fjord the highway passes through a ghostly "drowned forest" of bleached dead trees, created after the 1964 earthquake when the ,and slumped 4 ft and the sea rushed in. On the final approach to Seward I also saw my first bald eagles.
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