Seward - Day 4

The clouds lifted, the sky was bright blue, and the sun was shining!  Perfect weather for a Wildlife Cruise.  We had booked this cruise a couple of days ago, with our fingers crossed for the weather cooperating.  It did! 

We took a shuttle to the Kenai Fjords Ferry Terminal.  We boarded the Glacier Explorer ship for a noon trip through Resurrection Bay.  

We began by whale “waiting” as it’s called, after a whale is seen in the vicinity, but has already gone back into the depths to feed.  No luck with that one. 

We continued through the bay and saw a few small glaciers.

We then journeyed to Fox River Island, for a delicious buffet of Prime Rib, Alaskan Salmon, and all the “fixins”.  The Park Ranger, who was onboard with us, gave a presentation, complete with slides on various screens throughout the seating area.  She explained to us some of the stories of the area, and the reasons for the names of some of the islands, including Fox Island. A Norwegian woman lived on the island and raised foxes for their fur.  Hence the name!  

Shortly after lunch, we began seeing whale action!  We came upon a pod of 3 humpback whales.  They really put on a show!   This time of year, humpbacks come up to Alaska from Hawaii and Japan, to feed.

black & white fluke characteristic of Humpback Whales

We went through the bay and we were introduced to Caines Head.  The cliff face of this mountain is one of the fjords jutting into the bay.  Caines Head was a military fort (Fort McGilvray). Its purpose was to defend Alaska again possible Japanese attack.   Recall from previous post that the Alaska Highway was built with the same goal in mind.   This fort was situated on the mountain.  It faced the Gulf of Alaska.  Some barracks and other evidence of the fort still stand today.  It would have been tough duty during the Alaskan winter in Seward.  Difficult to find enthusiastic personnel to be sure!  

Caines Head

end of Caines Head -  leading to Bear Glacier

Next stop was Bear Glacier.  Bear Glacier is the largest glacier in the Kenai Fjords.  It is part of the Harding Icefields which encompasses about 1100 sq. miles.  

Upper Center of Glacier continues left and down for miles

The captain took us as far as the Alaska Gulf, where the water became slightly more choppy.  Apparently, this was a little less choppy than is the norm.  We lucked out all the way around!

We headed into Cape Resurrection and the show continued with playful and chatty stellar sea lions. 

Several more humpback whales put in an appearance, along with a couple of Dall’s porpoises (seen to the left of the whale with two smaller blows).  At that point, we stopped taking pictures and just watched as a whale came gracefully out of the water.  Truly beautiful.

Notice Gulls nesting on the cliffs

Hive Island

.

2 Dall's porpoises on left

We saw Puffins, Cormorants, seagulls, killdeer and eagles, to name a few!

Puffins

Along the way, we passed a “spit” of gravel, just like Homer Spit, though not as long.  This spit of land was created by a receding glacier.  There were many trunks of dead trees along the spit, and we were informed that this was a result of the Earthquake of 1964.  The land dropped 6 feet below sea level.  The trees died when they were submerged in saltwater.  Since the salt is a preservative, the trunks will forever stand exactly as you see them.        

Wonderful day! 

With many excellent memories of Seward, we will travel to Palmer tomorrow.  Stay tuned!