Waking up in the Caribou Inn was much more luxurious than at Coldfoot. We both slept well and had nice showers (since when is that a notable event?). We went to the cafeteria for breakfast and ended up eating with an Australian couple we had met in Coldfoot. I should explain that there were two Princess buses making this trip. The first (or "A" bus) was part of an independent tour with about 55 Australians aboard. Ours was the "B" bus and kept some distance behind the "A" bus so as to not overload the various stopping points along the way. Both buses did stop at the Coldfoot Inn and we all had dinner in the restaurant there. Mary and I ended up sitting with some Australians at one of the tables and enjoyed a pleasant conversation during our meal. The next morning, we sat at breakfast with one of the couples we had met the night before, and that was the couple we ran into again at Deadhorse. By the end of the day, we had exchanged address and contact information just in case we were ever in each others neck of the planet.
The schedule for today was that we would attend a lecture and video presentation, then head out to the oil field and the Arctic Ocean. The presentation was put on by a security officer for the oil field and presented the oil companies' side of the whole drilling in the Arctic issue. Following the presentation, we boarded a bus operated by the oil field security people. The driver was also our guide for the day, although Greg rode along and provided some additional information along the way. One concern we were told about was that due to the foggy conditions, we might not be able to get off the bus at the ocean. When I asked why the fog would keep us on the bus (were they afraid we might get lost?), we were told that if it was too foggy, they might not be able to see any Polar Bears that happened to be in the area. Protection of the Polar Bear is a very high priority on the field not to mention the need to keep distance between the bears and people. The bears would consider people to be just another food source that required very little effort to catch. Pictures of our day are here.
We headed out on the bus at about 9:00 with the temperature around 35 degrees but very windy. We drove into the oil field through a security gate and headed along the main road. We got a close up look at the various buildings, equipment and well heads. Drilling operations only take place during the winter when the tundra is frozen solid enough to drive on. We saw several vehicles that are used to drive on the tundra with their special tires that tread very softly on the surface. A number of buildings on sled runners were also around. Those would be towed to a well site during drilling operations. The well heads were only notable by the "Christmas Tree" valve structures that were mostly inside small sheds. Since the oil under ground is under very high pressure, there are no pumps to bring it to the surface. As we drove by one open area, we saw a small herd of Musk Ox.
At about 9:30, we arrived at the Arctic Ocean. There was very little fog and we were allowed to get off the bus with the only request being that we not attempt to walk on any of the remaining ice on the water. The ice was clearly breaking up and did not cover the ocean solidly. I marked the spot on my GPS unit and we walked out a breakwater to where we could get to some open water. The wind was very strong, so the wind chill was probably in the teens. Mary and I both dabbled our hands in the water. The water was not particularly cold (well, it was probably not much above freezing) when compared to how the air temperature felt. It was very neat to stand next to the Arctic Ocean and to look north and realize the North Pole was only about 1200 miles away (not much distance in Alaska). We were standing at approximately 70 degrees north latitude and it was further north than most people would ever imagine being. After getting back on the bus, we headed back to the inn. We did see the wheels that are used to move a drill rig from place to place. The tires appeared to be about 15 feet in diameter.
Back at the hotel, Alaska Air had arrived to pick up our bags. Rather than have everybody take their bags into the (small) Deadhorse airport and check them in there, the airline comes to the hotel with what amounts to a front end loader with a baggage container on it. We checked our bags, checked in for the flight, got bag tags and boarding passes in a garage next to the hotel. TSA folks were also there to do their random checked bag searches and to verify each passenger. Following that, we were pretty much free to watch videos in the lounge, eat lunch and just kick back.
After lunch Greg took the bus over to the Prudhoe Bay General Store and Post Office. The general store is like a large convenience mart (7-11 etc.) that caters to both tourists (lots of T-shirts) and oil field workers. We did manage to pick up a couple items there to commemorate our adventure in the Arctic.
At about 3:00 we boarded our Princess bus for one last time to go to the airport less than a mile from the hotel. The boarding process was slow since there was only one gate and one security scanner. In my case, I didn't help matters by forgetting that I had some change in my pants pocket. Being positive that my pockets were empty, I kept setting off the metal detector and had to go through the "special" screening process. I was a bit embarassed when, after about 10 minutes of pulling everything out of all my pockets except the one I was sure was empty, I finally fished back into that one and found several coins that I had gotten in change for a purchase I made in the commisary at the hotel.
Our flight took off and once we got a ways south, the sky was very clear. As we got near Denali, the pilot informed us that since it was such a clear day we would be able to see the mountain on the left side of the aircraft. In fact, he said he was going to drop down to about 3000 feet above the peak so we would be able to get a good look at it. I moved to an unoccupied window seat on the left side where I could get a good view. We ended up flying a complete loop around the mountain while the pilot pointed out various features like a tour bus driver. It was a fantastic view and I got lots of pictures.
We arrived back in Anchorage late in the afternoon and were bused to the Captain Cook hotel where we had spent our first night a week before. We went out for a walk about the downtown area since it was a beautiful day and the sun was bright. We had dinner at the Snow Goose Restaurant and Brewery where I had the caribou burger. After dinner we continued walking around and enjoying the various sites. Eventually, we realized it was quite late (around 10:00 pm but still bright and sunny) and we needed to get back to the hotel so we could get some sleep. We wanted to go out for breakfast in the morning before boarding our bus for Whittier.
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