The Bald Eagle was back again this morning...perched on an old piling. He seemed to pose for all the people out snapping pictures...(Remember to click on pictures to enlarge)
We checked in and picked up our boarding passes...just relaxing before we head down the dock to the boat...
Here is the description of our tour...
"Our route through the Kenai Fjords National Park offers the opportunity to experience Alaska’s glaciers and wildlife up close. This trip departs from the port of Seward, and travels through Resurrection Bay, passing by Caines Head, Bear Glacier and the Harding Gateway. Guests will travel through a small section of the Gulf of Alaska as we round Cape Aialik and enter Aialik Bay and the Kenai Fjords National Park. In Aialik Bay, we will visit with one of the massive tidewater glaciers for a short while, hopefully watching ice break off into the water (calving). After viewing the glacier, you will have the chance of seeing nesting seabirds and Stellar sealions located either in the Chiswell Islands or Cape Resurrection. Throughout the cruise, you will have a chance of seeing otters, whales, porpoise as well as some land based wildlife along the coastline." The full day trip is the blue line.
The boat started boarding at 9:45 and we were on our way by 10:00. We passed our campground...we are second from the left...View of Seward from the water...
Our first wildlife viewing...a sea otter...
Dall's Porpoises...
Stellar Sea Lions...
Approaching Aialik Glacier. The temperature drop when approaching a glacier is incredible. They say that they create their own weather...
Glacier calving...
Finally...we saw some Humpback Whales...
A "raft" of Sea Otters...
Snow caves...
Kayaking campers...
Approaching Holgate Glacier...
Kayakers...
Harbor Seals in the distance...
Harbor Seal with Sea Otters behind...
Sea Otter...
Glacier is calving...
Of course, I had to have a "Glacier-ita"...Margarita made with freshly "caught" glacier ice...
Gull nesting area...
More Stellar Sea Lions...
Mountain Goat left of center...
Chiswell Islands...
A waterfall...
It was 5:30 when we arrived back at the dock in Seward...WOW...what an awesome day! The weather was not as nice as it had been on the cruise we went on from Whittier but we saw way more wildlife and the glaciers were incredible! We felt that this was the better cruise to do.
The fishing boats were also all coming in and these fellows were posing with their catch...
We were sitting outside relaxing after a fabulous day when we saw this...Now that's the way to get to your kayaking area!
What an amazing tour!! You saw just about everything you could imagine...just a perfect Alaska Day:o)))
ReplyDeleteThere are cruises from Valdez, Whittier and Seward and they all sound good so it was hard to choose which one. We had heard that others had seen so much more marine wildlife on the Valdez and Seward cruises. Since we had already been to Valdez we decided that a cruise from Seward was our last chance. Besides we may never get back up here.
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