Seward, AK Day 2

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Today is going to be a fun day.  We have a 6 hour cruise scheduled with Kenai Fjord Tours.  We were told that there was a possibility that we will be seeing whales, birds, sea lions and we would definitely see glaciers.

We are getting ready to board the catamaran Callisto for our tour.

We weren't even out of the harbor when we saw this bald eagle.

Off we go as we leave the harbor.

In the lower inside passenger area was this computer screen. There is an arrow that is the ship in its current position. It shows the speed we are traveling and the depth in feet at the current location. It was interesting to check every so often.

 The rock cliffs were beautiful. Below shows how massive they actually are.

The water was this beautiful glacial blue green. The color shows well as the waves flow out of this tiny cove.

 WOW we started seeing some humpback whales. There were 3 in this group. Can you tell?

This is actually 2 humpbacks.  Can you see both sprays?

I almost missed this tail.  The tail on each whale is different like our fingerprints.

 We are going past Bear Glacier. Bear Glacier marks the beginning of the Kenai Fjords National Park from the East. It is the longest glacier in the park, measuring 13 miles long.

 Humpback whales again.  I got this tail. We were told that when you see tail like this it means they are going deeper.

Here the Captain told us the whales were upside down and we were seeing their flippers helping to hold them this way so they could feed on a small group of fish.

 A whale got a little closer. We got the picture just as it went back down in the water.

There were many little "islands" along our way.

In the far distant shore, I could see a waterfall. As much as I had to zoom, I'm surprised I got the waterfall.

More little islands.  The littlest one is occupied with gulls.

 We are headed to this glacier, Aialik Glacier.  We are still a good distance away.

 On a mountain edge we went by, we saw 2 bald eagles.  We only got a picture of this one. Look at those piercing eyes.

 Above is a close up of the Pederson Glacier seen below. We saw this glacier from a distance as we got closer to Aialik.

Here is the Aialik Glacier.  It is right at the water.

There were kayakers here also.  They give perspective as to the size of this huge glacier.

Here we are about 1/4 mile away. The Aialik Glacier is about 1 mile wide and 484 feet thick at the waters edge.
The light brown color on the top of the ice is a type of algae that ice worms live off of.  I never even knew there were ice worms.  The ice worms are then eaten by birds. Glaciers have their own eco system. 

 We are still at least a couple of miles from the glacier. Look at all the ice chunks.

This is only one of many larger calves that have broken off the glacier.

I did take this panoramic as we started to leave.

Aialik Glacier in the distance. I like this effect.

WOW we are seeing Orka whales. This is the best picture we got of them.

On a small island the sea lions were warming themselves on the rocks.  

 More humpbacks! Tic got this good tail picture.

We started seeing puffins. Both above and below are tufted Puffins.

 We went around so many individual small rock formations. And the water was so beautiful. Even though it is overcast it was gorgeous!

The horned Puffin like to nest in the rocks. 

The Captain brought the boat very close to this little cave. The swirling water magnified the beautiful color of the water.

 More huge beautiful rock formations. 

 Another humpback came close.  It is sooo big!

I missed the whale, it is just under the surface.  I like the rocks though.

 WOW more tail.  We are so blessed to be able to picture this so many times today!

These birds are Alaska's version of penguins.

 We are almost back and Mt Alice is mostly visible again.

Look at all the RV camping right next to Resurrection Bay at Seward!

It was a long ride, but we got to see lots of whales and other animals and birds.  It was a wonderful day!