Seward
We woke to the gift of mountain peaks soaring above low clouds with more clouds stretching across the sky. My heart longed for blue sky to enjoy the majestic mountains I hoped to see on our excursion.
Our six hour tour to Kanai fjords National and glacier was through Major Marine tours and we boarded at the small boat harbor through the Harbor 360 Hotel late morning.
The low clouds began to lift as we departed, revealing other glaciers nestled in the valleys.
We cruised past Fox Island and saw a pod of Orcas with at least two pair of mamas and calves and one large male swimming about in Resurrection Bay. We spotted a few spouts and lots of iconic dorsal fins.
As we entered Aialik Bay a couple of rafts of resting sea otters floated by like a tiny fleet of canoes. Dozens of them. They looked small from the boat but the Alaskan sea otter males actually reaches about 120 lbs.
We continued into Aialik Bay and clearing clouds gifted us with blue skies for incredible views and scenery throughout the afternoon.
I was struck by how beautiful the water looked and how warm tropical waters and cold arctic waters can have the same blue-green quality.
Aialik glacier stunned us with its incredible deep blue and white colors. The occasional sight and sound of ice calving broke the stillness, and sea lions slugged about on the glacier ice.
I could have stayed there all day.
On our return trip we saw plenty more sea lions slugging about on the rocks of No Name Island along with lots of gulls, a few cormorants, and a bald eagle sighting on the other side of the bay.
Still no picture of our bear, but for our final gift of the day we saw the last puffin of the season floating about in the water. Not sure why he hadn’t left yet, but fun seeing him. I didn’t know what a puffin was until we saw the mural on the side of the hotel.
tablets of human hearts 