Alaska ......... part 2

Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward

I took a cruise into the National Park in Seward on a six hour trip. It turned out to be a cloudy and cold day again but, despite this or perhaps because of this, the scenery was still spectacular and kind of moody. Clouds hung low over the land we passed and the water was gray, matching the colour of the sky. We saw our first animal within 20 minutes of leaving the dock - a sea otter playing in the water by itself, minding its own business, not phased by us in the slightest. In the course of the cruise we saw orca whales, sea lions, humpback whales, puffins and stayed a while in front of a glacier to catch some calving. It was a fantastic experience and I have, of course, included some pictures below to show you what I saw. I also took some video of the animals, but I will upload this separately once I can edit it down for time and size to upload on my main computer at home.

Enjoy the views!

My cruise boat for the day

Good morning Mr Sea Otter! Thanks for coming out!

Cloudy but still gorgeous.

 

 

I have put in a page break so all these photos don't download at the same time and it makes it easier for you to read - just click on the 'read more' link below to see photos and see the rest of the post.

 

An orca whale - we watched this guy and the two others for about
20 minutes. One of them was a baby!

Waterfalls into the ocean

Look at the way the clouds are sitting! Pretty cool to see.

Sea lions and seals we saw in quite a few places. 

Kayakers on a tour.....

This black bear was walking along the beach for about 5 minutes and then
went over the ridge and disappeared. Just out for a morning stroll!

Close up of the glacier and the colour of it....... 

Beautiful ice......

It was freezing but amazing to stand there and watch the ice fall away!

We got quite close and were the only ones there. We sat for about 20 - 30 minutes.

Whales!

Took me all 15 minutes we watched these guys to take this shot at the
right time. They were so fluid and slow and cool to watch!
They also had a baby with them.

Puffins - quite possibly my favourite bird as they are quite ridiculous!
Watched a few try to take off from the water and was told that sometimes they
just can't fly up - not because they are injured but because their stomachs are too full!
They sort of fly 30 cm above the water and when they don't get airborne they land again.

The town of Seward as we were coming in at the end of the tour.

Following this tour, I had the afternoon to wander round the town and look at the sights. As I was walking down the street, I saw some people looking down a boat ramp towards the boat harbor and thought the cruise ship that was in dock might be leaving. However as I turned the corner I saw that it was not a boat that had caught their eye, but a moose! Check out the photos -

Seward is also full of murals and I took a photo of one that was close to the boat harbor, as well as a few of that area of town. It is really just a tiny town nestled between mountains and water.

At the end of the day, I caught the 6pm Coastal Classic train back to Anchorage. It cleared up once we were moving and I took some good photos showing the sun coming through the clouds - note that most of these were taken about 9 - 10pm. The midnight sun! 😊

My seat view was to the roof!

More to come as I collect my hire car and start my drive towards Denali, Fairbanks and Valdez.

Keep smiling,
Candice 😄