Kenai Fjords National Park - Boat tour with magnificent views

31.08.2014 Whales, sea lions, and puffins

I wake up at 4:15 am and listen to my audiobook. Around 6:00 am, the dawn begins and it looks cold outside. It was supposed to be 5°C and all the cars have frost on their roofs.

Early morning in Seward

Breakfast

We have breakfast at the diner from last night. Before that, we went to a general store next door. They sell folding chairs, fishing gear, clothes, postcards, and some food and souvenirs. I find a super lightweight quilted jacket that can be folded into its own pocket and I think it's a good choice for future trips because it's lightweight, doesn't take up space, and keeps you warm.

We already got our tickets for the 6-hour boat tour through Kenai Fjords National Park. The national park includes both land and sea. The Harding Icefield is part of it. It's a huge glacier area of 780 sq km and when you count the 32 glaciers that are fed from the area, it's about 1000 sq km more. Eight of the glaciers flow into the fjords of the Gulf of Alaska and that's where part of today's excursion will go. The captain will decide which glaciers we will see exactly because it depends on the ice conditions in front of the glacier whether he wants and can go there.

Departure from Seward

At 11:00 am, we board our ship under blue skies, bright sunshine, and a fresh breeze. It quickly becomes clear that we will need long underwear, a hat, and gloves once the ship starts moving. Even in the sun. So bundle up... It's 13°C and when the wind comes, it's already chilly.

We leave the harbor and see many anglers standing next to the piers casting their fishing lines for salmon. And we already have beautiful photo opportunities all around us. Wherever you look, you can see glaciers and snow-covered peaks.

Bear Glacier

Bear Glacier with Orca

There are Orcas roaming around in front of the Bear Glacier, which can easily be recognized by their narrow, tall fins and black-and-white coloration.

In front of Holgate Glacier

Holgate Glacier

We continue to the Holgate Glacier, which looks photogenic in the sun. The four other glaciers next to it, lying on a slope, are even more impressive as they come over the ridge. By now, we have applied sunscreen to the few exposed areas of our bodies and we can't do without sunglasses. We were genuinely afraid that we might have bad weather here because everyone said that the southern/southeastern coast of Alaska, especially along the Kenai Peninsula, would be the wettest part of our trip. But nothing like that!

Steller sea lions, the largest earless seals in the world and definite predators, live on a rocky island and bask in the sun. The Atlantic puffins, or puffins for short, are much cuter. They fly or swim around busily and are therefore difficult to photograph because they are always in action. 

A harbor seal swims in the water, hundreds of seagulls accompany us, and we continue on. We pass close to small islands that are steep cliffs and go through the nature reserve. We see humpback whales, and one of them happily shows us its tail fin. However, one of them has lost a tip on this fin. Tail fins are an identifying feature for humpback whales, almost like a fingerprint in humans. So you can photograph humpback whales out here and email the pictures to a location in Seward where they can identify which whale it is based on the tail fin since most of them are registered here.

The devastating earthquake of 1964, which caused huge damage especially in Anchorage, also changed the appearance of the landscape here. The land has sunk by 1-2 meters and particularly Seward has slid down in large parts, and even now there are railroad cars and cars lying at a depth of 30 meters in front of the harbor basin. Along the way, you can see large white-gray skeletons of fir trees. They were exposed to saltwater at that time because the 4-minute earthquake of magnitude 9.6 was followed by 3 tsunamis.

During the return journey, chocolate cookies are baked on board and we sit in the sun, protected from the wind, enjoying the view, cookies, and fresh air. At 5:30 pm, we are back in Seward at the harbor. We briefly go to Safeway to buy some food and water for the next few days. We also get a bottle of glass cleaner and a sponge to take care of the precious car on our way. For cleaning, we grab a stack of advertising newspapers and put them in the car.

Seward fishing boats

Since we're not hungry, we go to the pub next to our diner for a beer, and afterwards, I fall asleep like a fallen tree in bed at 10:00 pm.

Kenai Fjords National Park

Alaska, United States