KENAI FJORDS NATIONAL PARK
Thursday June 12th 2014
Less than two weeks ago we had to reschedule the cruise to Kenai
Fjords (it was raining, the sea was wild and there was a chance the
captain could turn the boat around). It was about 123 miles one way
but … what the hell. It is really nice drive there, it is the same
drive back but that drive is just long and tedious. Partly cloudy
morning, it was possible the day could go either way. We left at 8:20
am and were heading to Seward (fifth or sixth time on this road).
More traffic. Nothing really special – same drive, pretty but we
saw all this several times. 123 miles and almost 2 hours and 30
minutes. Some drizzle along the way but it never (luckily) lasted.
Seward. Parked. Walked to the tour office/store to check in. Almost
11:00 am (time to start boarding). Two story boat, top was already
occupied. Stayed on the main level by the windows. And … wait,
wait, and wait (till departure of 11:30 am). I saw some small fishes.
Weather stayed more less the same – overcast, no rain, no sun.
Small lunch. Narration from the captain – informative, nice, and
good. Relatively smooth sea – there were some bumps but nothing
really bad. Apparently we went out of the way to see some Orca
whales. We were quite close and it was really incredible to watch
those animals swim along the way.
Wildlife seen:
Stellar Sea Lion
Sea Otter
Harbor Seal
Dall's Porpoise
Humpback Whale
Orca Whale
Fin Whale
Bald Eagle
Common Murre
Horned Puffin
Tufted Puffin
Dall Sheep
It was a lot of going in and out of the cabin. It was windy and cold
outside. At one point the boat was surrounded by bunch of Dall's
Porpoises and they were playing in the boat's waves. It was really
great. The captain was saying that it was great weather for the
wildlife viewing and she was right. Apparently we saw a lot of
animals. Some glaciers along the way. Well, again it is hard to
describe the whole trip without actually experiencing it. The
mountains around us were mostly visible, even though there was fog
and clouds. The boat slowed or even stopped to watch the animals.
Aialik Bay with Aialik glacier was the aim of our cruise. Our boat
was named Aialik Voyager. More glaciers along the bay, some more
animals, and calmer sea. At the end of the bay was huge blue glacier,
bunch of ice pieces in the ocean – hitting the boat, and also bunch
of animals – mostly in the distance. There was one seal sleeping on
the ice and floating in the sea. The boat stayed next to the glacier
for quite a while (almost half an hour). We even saw several pieces
of glacier to fall down into the ocean – it is apparently called
glacier calving. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_calving
It was really great. The ride back was more laid back and there was
plenty of people who fell asleep or were taking quick naps (I think I
fell asleep for a minute or two as well). We saw some more animals
and even stopped for Fin Whale – apparently those are quite rare to
see. Some islands with tons and tons of birds – it was pretty cool.
Some more whales, birds, and even some bald eagles – the captain
was saying that it was like National Geographic. The islands were
nice and green, and on one of them we even saw two dall sheep. One of
those islands had some structures on the top – second war military
post. Back in Seward. We just drove home. We were quite tired – we
did not do nothing but we were so tired. As I said before, the
landscape is really pretty but to see it again during the same day –
quite hard to be really excited about it. After arriving to Anchorage
we stopped by BBQ place for late dinner. J. got (they did not do it
right first time) big container of fried pickles. I had half slab of
baby back ribs – coleslaw was subpar, cornbread really good, and
ribs were really great. It was good day with good end.
