I woke up to my first full day in Seward motivated to get out and explore. My first stop: the offices of Kenai Backcountry Adventures to book a guided hike. Although I hike alone all the time at home, I didn’t really want to do that in Alaska because, you know, bears. The woman running the front desk also worked at my yurt village, and I’d heard good things about the company. Luckily, they had a trip planned for the next day, so I signed up and headed into town.
I ended up at Kenai Fjords Tours, the most well-known company for boat trips through the fjords. At first, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go on the water because I sometimes get seasick and the trip was a 6-hour boat ride. But, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to explore one of the main natural features that had drawn me to Alaska. I bought my ticket for the 10:30am departure and went straight to Safeway to buy Dramamine and seasickness wrist bands.
Back at the dock, Monkey and I waited for to board the boat, enjoying the sunny sky and crystal blue water in the port.
Finally, it was time to board our boat, the Callisto Voyager.
The sun was out, and I’d been getting hot on the dock, but once we started going, it got cold fast. I wore three layers plus a jacket on top, with a hat and two hoods over my head. From that point on, all I could do was stare in awe at the 360-degree views of snow covered mountains, huge expanses of sky, and wildlife. I can’t possibly share all of my favorite pictures from the boat ride, so I’ll just pick a few to illustrate what the entire day was like.
The guy sitting next to me was also traveling alone, so we shared cameras to get a few shots of ourselves on the boat.
After about 20 minutes, the boat came to a sudden stop because the captain had spotted a whale. Watching these huge animals swim around the boat, I marveled at their graceful movements.They just kept swimming and going about their business while all of us tourists clicked away on our phones and cameras. After a few shots, I put down my camera and directed all of my attention toward fully experiencing their beauty.
Shortly after, the captain took us into a calm cove to see a pod of orcas. They seemed more agile and playful than the first whales we saw. And, I couldn’t help but think that the way their white spots clearly contrasted with their mostly black bodies looked just like the orcas depicted in the movies and in books. We watched this pod for a long time as they kept coming up right next to the boat. Once again, I put my camera away so I could just watch and experience these beautiful animals.
It really was this beautiful for the entire 6-hour journey. I just had to keep taking pictures!
Eventually, we came to Aialik Glacier. The air temperature dropped by at least 10 degrees as we entered the cove. The pieces of ice floating all around the cove were the tips of icebergs that had broken off the glacier. The captain explained that while they might look small from the top of the water, under the water they were massive chunks of ice that boaters had to be very careful not to hit.
The captain got right up to the edge of the glacier. As we floated in the water with the engines quiet, we heard consistent rumbling noises as pieces of the glacier rolled down like giant snowballs into the water. The larger pieces rumbled on their way down, sounding like fireworks in the distance. Eventually, we saw a massive piece calve off and go thundering down into the water. It created a wave so big that the captain had to turn the boat head-on toward the wave. Of course, the main thought I had was of global warming. Glaciers are flowing rivers of ice, and while their edges constantly break off into the water, the glacier seemed to be crumbling at a relatively fast pace. Surprisingly, the captain said nothing about the effects of global warming on the glacier.
As we left the glacier, Monkey found a nice place to relax for the journey back to Seward.
The captain and crew really knew how to find wildlife, and I couldn’t believe they spotted these two bald eagles hanging out on a beach. There’s one on the right side of the photo, just where the water meets the shore, and another on top of the gray ridge of beach just to the left of center.
He also found these white mountain goats on an island. They’re the two white specks just above the large rocks on the shore, under the bend in the U-shaped outcrop of rocks in the middle of the picture.
And, for one final treat, we visited these sea lions sunning on some rocks near a different island. They gave us quite a serenade of barks that sounded like loud, disgusting burps.
At first, I’d been nervous about seasickness and unsure if I’d like such a structured touristy tour, but upon returning to the dock at Seward, I was so glad I’d decided to take this day trip. The glacier was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Before the trip, I’d seen all the types of animals we saw from the boat, but I’d never seen most of them in the wild. Watching the whales swim in their home territory was an experience I’ll never forget. Their beauty and grace isn’t something that can be replicated in an enclosed aquarium. Add to that the perfect weather we had, and I couldn’t have asked for a more awesome trip.