Kenai Fjords National Park sea life tourJun 19, 2012
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Resurrection Bay, as seen from Seward, AK.
They don't come much cuter than this. Otters spend 90% of their...
There's a bald eagle on the cliff at 3 O'Clock, watching for...
| We spent the day on a boat tour of the Kenai Fjords. The waters of Resurrection Bay were too cold and choppy to bother kayaking it, and we wanted a better chance of seeing wildlife. The fjords were carved by glaciers, and are quite deep in many spots. The depth ranges from 40, to 1600 feet! The tour company we chose offered an 8.5 hour tour, that ended at their own island, and included a nice all-you-can-eat gourmet dinner of salmon, prime rib, and king crab for only $180 a person. By comparison, there was a kayak tour company that took you out for 12 hours, for $399! Hmmmmm, wait a minute while I do the math on that: 8.5 hours in a climate-controlled boat, with free coffee, tea, a chicken caesar wrap for lunch, & salmon buffet for dinner... or $200 more to sit in 45 degree water paddling for 12 hours? DUHHHHHHHHHH! (I've done 6-8 hours... and it's tiring as hell) Everyone on the boat that day must be living right, because the weather was gorgeous, and the wildlife was everywhere... as if on cue. We went in with the expectation of seeing nice scenery, and getting a good dinner... and felt if we saw any wildlife, it would be "icing on the cake". We were not disappointed. In addition to whales, we saw eagles, otters, puffins, sea lions, harbor seals, dall porpoise, and orcas. The lighting was great for photos most of the time, so enjoy the pics. I posted a video of the whales on Cindy's Facebook page... 4 or 5 would round up the fish, and one would swim up the center of the group to scoop 'em up. They'd alternate so each got a chance to eat. The humans were fun to watch as well. One gentleman, who despite multiple warnings from the captain, decided he was going to stand in the center of the bow and not hold any railings... fell down and twisted his ankle. Another guy was taking pictures up front, when he was the unlucky recipient of a smelly "gift" from one of the birds. If you've never seen a sea bird crap, lemme tell you something... it's no small event! As the tour ran late into the day... many folks began to feel ill from all the motion of the ocean. A young girl tossed her cookies all over daddy's lap, and at the rear of the ship, (after dinner) at least a dozen or so "green" faced sailors proceeded to spill more salmon on the deck than is likely to be seen on the busiest fishing boat. Cindy and I did ok, although, after the first 2 bites into that chicken caesar wrap, it was touch-and-go for a few minutes for me! |
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