In 1778 the famous
Captain James Cook explored the northeastern part of the Gulf of Alaska and marked this body of water on his
map as the Sandwich Sound.
But his bosses in England thought it was politically better to name it after Prince William,
hence it became the
Prince William Sound.
The huge
Exxon Valdez oil spil of
1989 caused an unprecedented environmental disaster which took many years to recover from.
The Sound ends at the
Chugach Mountain range which creates several tide-water
glaciers like the Columbia and Meares.
Several operators offer half
or full day boattrips from Valdez to these imposing glaciers.
Most probably you will have close encounters with the
abundant wildlife that live in the Sound like humpback whales, sea-otters, eagles, puffins and seals.
