Its 4:00am Saturday morning March 13, 2004. I back my truck up to the garage where I have been working all night getting the Sea Doo's ready to go. I hook up the trailer and make a final inspection of the PWC's and run through my checklist. Drain plugs are in? Check! Are the GPS's and marine radios on board? Check! Sleeping bags, tents, space blankets, first aid kits, emergency survival kits, fishing poles, tackle, chainsaw, axe, dry suits, helmets, gloves, life jackets, jumper cables, emergency battery jump pack (charged up), extra engine oil, 4 gas cans on each PWC, drinking water, food (chili and stew in vacuum packed bags), matches, fire starter kits, lighters, extra batteries (vacuum packed), extra fuses (vacuum packed), cooler, propane bottle, Coleman lantern, extra mantels, propane cook stove, pan for boiling water and cooking chili, dielectric grease for electrical connections, dry bags with extra clothes (coats, sweaters, dry wool socks, winter gloves and extra neoprene gloves), flares, fire extinguishers, satellite phone, personal locater beacons, emergency lasers, spotlights, cell phone, several copies of the float plan and maps of planned trip? Check!
Check the tires and make sure the lights on the trailer are working. Check! Ok.
Looks like I am ready. It's a 2-hour drive to get to the Whittier Tunnel and I want to beat the morning rush traffic. On the drive to Whittier I listen to the marine weather channel as it tells me the area that we are headed for is calling for 10 knots winds and 1-foot seas. This makes me excited and is very good news for us, which should make for excellent riding.
Today we are meeting with Chris Arend of Chris Arend Photography of Anchorage Alaska, and some members of the Personal Watercraft Club of Alaska, for a winter ride in Prince William Sound sponsored by Star Bound Alaskan Adventures (http://starboundmagazine.com), and Jet Sports Magazine.
I make what has become a traditional stop at the gas station at Girdwood, Alaska to fuel up the Sea Doos. As I climb out of the cab of the truck, I notice that I am getting lots of strange looks. Everyone at the station is pulling trailers with snow machines and I'm pulling PWC's in the middle of winter. I look at the people who are giving me strange looks and then look back at my trailer. "Oh Man! I got the wrong trailer!" I say out loud, and then laugh while I fuel up the Sea Doos. I see people shaking their heads and I can just imagine what they are thinking.
From Girdwood it is only about 15 minutes to the gate at the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. This 2.5-mile tunnel is about fifty miles southeast of Anchorage, Alaska on the Portage Glacier Highway, connecting the port city of Whittier on Prince William Sound to the Seward Highway and the rest of South-central Alaska. The tunnel opened to vehicular traffic on June 7, 2000 after an extensive project to convert the World War II railroad tunnel for vehicle use. The project has received national attention as the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, which are listed below.
The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is a landmark accomplishment that boasts several "firsts":
· The longest highway tunnel in North America. (13,300' or 2.5 miles)
· The longest combined rail and highway use tunnel in North America.
· The first tunnel in the United States that has a ventilation system that combines jet turbine and portal fans.
· The first tunnel with a unique computerized traffic-control system that regulates both rail and highway traffic.
The first tunnel designed to operate in temperatures down to minus 40 degrees F. and in winds up to 150 mph. The portal buildings are designed to withstand avalanches. The tunnel itself is quite an interesting site for those who have never seen something like it.

I arrive at the tunnel entrance one hour before it opens and take the time to review the float plan and install fresh batteries in our Garmin radios and make last minute checks on the gear and equipment. The first one in the group to show up is Chris Arend and his assistant Ivan Bacon. As we are talking, more members of the personal watercraft club began showing up. I introduce Gina Poths to Chris and then I reviewed the float plan with Gina and Paula.

As we are waiting for scheduled opening of the tunnel we are informed that there will be an hour delay due to tunnel maintenance. We take the delay time to review the PWC safety video with Chris and Ivan.

Finally the tunnel opened at 9:30am and into the city of Whittier we ventured.
Whittier has an ice free port and is the gateway to Prince William Sound. From here we can travel literally hundreds of miles on the ocean and see sights that others can only dream about. The incredible glaciers, the amazing wildlife, Prince William Sound has a beauty about it that words simply cannot describe. It is something that you have to see for yourself to fully understand. Star Bound Alaskan Adventures offers a chance to see this beauty in a way that is as exciting as the scenery is. Imagine being able to drive yourself on a personal watercraft through a guided tour of glacier fields, waterfalls, and pristine scenery. If fishing is your thing, Star Bound Alaskan Adventures has the trip for you. We will take you to places where there are no other people and the salmon are everywhere. It beats "combat" fishing on a river where you stand shoulder to shoulder with five hundred to a thousand other people.

Once you come out of the tunnel it is like entering another world. The radio in your car doesn't receive any stations, your cell phone doesn't have service, and you see a very small town with old military barracks (what has become the primary living area for the citizens of Whittier). With a small boat harbor, Whittier is a truly interesting town. We don't spend anytime checking out the town though. We are excited to see the ocean is calm. After a quick stop at harbormasters office to pay launch fees and file the float plan and get our dry suits on, we are ready to get or crafts in the water. By now most of the entire group has started launching and it was not very long before we were ready to take off. Ivan and Chris are shown the controls and given last minute instructions on how to operate the Shuttlecraft Sport Deck that they are using. Our Sea Doo PWC powers this 18-foot Trimaran Hull vessel made by Shuttlecraft. It turned out to be the perfect platform for Chris Arend to snap his photos from. The weather this day was very typical for Alaska. The temperature varied from 32.0 °F 37.0°F with winds from 3 to 10 mph with rain and snow. It was nothing short of perfect riding weather. After we left the harbor, we all met up in the bay and discussed the plan. Because of the tunnel maintenance delay, our day had been shortened and we were not going to be able to go as far as originally planned. The last tunnel opening out of Whittier was at 5:00 pm and we had to make it or we would be spending the night in Whittier, something none of us wanted to do. We decided to run up to Blackstone Bay, which is about 25 miles out of Whittier. On the ride up, it snowed on us some, it rained on us some, and then it cleared up enough and the sun actually made it through the fog and provided us some excellent photo opportunities.
No one got cold, and some members of the group actually jumped in the water to cool off because they were getting too hot with their dry suits on. Everyone agreed that it was a great day. We were able to get some excellent photos and have a great time in doing so. About 3:00 pm we decided to head back to Whittier and by 5:00 pm everyone had made it back safe and sound.
Star Bound Alaskan Adventures would like to thank Jet Sports Magazine, Chris Arend Photography and the Personal Watercraft Club of Alaska for their support and interest in our business and for helping promote safe and responsible watercraft riding for everyone. We all support equal boating access in Alaska and strive to promote a positive image of watercraft and their owners.
Reference web sites
Star Bound Alaskan Adventures: http://starboundmagazine.com
Personal Watercraft Club of Alaska: http://www.pwcalaska.org/index.asp
Chris Arend Photography: http://chrisarend.com/