My journey on August 14th was aboard the Klondike Express the largest, fastest catamaran in Alaska. Prince William Sound is 2100 square miles of island fjords, carved by 15 million years of glaciations and surrounded by the Chugack Natinal Forest. It is America's largest intact marine ecosystem and North America's northern-most rain forest. It is the most active seismic region in the world. The trip took us near the epicenter of the 1964 Good Friday earthquake which measured 9.2 on the Richter scale.
The Klondike Express is a 137 - foot bessles which holds 342 passengerns on three decks and cruises at 38 knots. The ship is 34 feet wide and this eliminates much of the motion that causes seasickness. The Chugack Eskimos now known as the Alutiiq migrated into Prince Williams Sound 00about 7000 years ago as the glaciers began their retreat. They were water people whose lives centered on hunting and gishing. These early people created small villages and lived in wooden houses. They maded clothing from sea otter and seal, wove baskets from grass and pruce roots and used stones, bones, wood and shells to make tools.
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