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Scenic Cruising Harriman Fjord

Stretching for 2,500 square miles along the southeast coast of Alaska, Prince William Sound boasts one of the world’s largest concentrations of tidewater glaciers. Five of these flow into protected Harriman Fjord, which spans some 12 miles from Barry Arm near Whittier to its glacial terminus of the same name. The fjord was discovered by the famous Harriman Expedition, which mapped the Sound region in 1899. Believing they had found a new Northwest Passage, the team traversed the then-uncharted channel, hemmed by cliffs rising upward of 10,000 feet and partially blocked by ice. As your Seabourn captain navigates the now ice-free inlet, gaze in awe at its dynamic glaciers — crowned by the magnificent, eight-mile-long Harriman Glacier — perhaps witnessing as one calves a massive iceberg into the frigid waters. Prince William Sound is rich with wildlife including orca and humpback whales, Dall’s porpoises, sea lions, sea otters, and harbor seals; bald eagles and kittiwakes soar overhead. The region’s crystal-clear rivers and streams attract five species of wild salmon, so keep your eyes peeled for bears fishing onshore.