Seward bound
Seward is a little place on the south coast of the Kenai peninsula. It's a cruise ship stop and as such is usually inundated with tourists, but seeing as it's coming to the end of the season, there weren't many people around. Seward is a little coastal community with a few things going for it: its amazing sealife centre, and its proximity to the stunning glaciers and wildlife of the Kenai Fjords National Park.
We first stopped at our hostel and got ourselves set. We were staying in the Moby Dick hostel - which was the only hostel in the middle of town. After checking in we realised we were the only people in our building and we had the whole place to ourselves! This meant we didn't have the usual hostel problems of having to fight for kitchen space or clean up other people's dishes and pans. We found the nearby(ish) supermarket and managed to have a home-cooked meal for once.
Seward's sealife centre helps rehabilitate sick and injured local animals as well as engage in research and conservation. We found it an enchanting place - very well run and incredibly informative. We also were thrilled with some close interaction with a giant Pacific octopus, various seabirds (including two types of puffin!) and a HUGE Steller sea lion. Outside we even spotted a couple of (wild) Bald eagles. Wonderful!
The next day we got ourselves onboard a tour boat going out to the National Park. It was touch and go whether we'd manage to get out to the glacier because the seas had been rough that week, but luckily they'd subsided enough that the trip wouldn't be too arduous. We all piled on board and all set off for Aialik glacier. On the trip we spotted sea otters, seals, some Dall's porpoises as well as a couple of humpback whales; but the real star of the show was the glacier itself.
As we approached, we were all awed by its sheer immensity. It's literally a mile-wide wall of ice rising from the waters of the fjord. The captain turned off the boat's engines and we could hear the glacier as it cracked and split. Every now and again, small pieces of ice tumbled off the top of the sheer terminal face of the glacier and tumbled hundreds of feet into the water below but even these small pieces made a tremendous splash. It was only after seeing a few of these that we heard the guide mention that these 'small' pieces were probably the size of a sofa. Suddenly we all became aware of a deep cracking and we knew something was up. Smaller pieces were falling all around one section of the glacier's face and suddenly one huge protrusion gave itself up to the waters of the fjord as stunned tourists (and some rather bored looking harbour seals) looked on. I think everyone (except the seals) knew they'd witnessed something they'd remember for years to come.
On the way back we went by the Chiswell islands and spotted some seabirds and sea lions and managed to find a couple of humpback whales - but by this time we were short on time and had to head back. On the way we managed to tempt some Dall's porpoises into riding our bow wave. All in all, a magical day and certainly one of the highlights (of many) of our Alaska trip.
We first stopped at our hostel and got ourselves set. We were staying in the Moby Dick hostel - which was the only hostel in the middle of town. After checking in we realised we were the only people in our building and we had the whole place to ourselves! This meant we didn't have the usual hostel problems of having to fight for kitchen space or clean up other people's dishes and pans. We found the nearby(ish) supermarket and managed to have a home-cooked meal for once.
Seward's sealife centre helps rehabilitate sick and injured local animals as well as engage in research and conservation. We found it an enchanting place - very well run and incredibly informative. We also were thrilled with some close interaction with a giant Pacific octopus, various seabirds (including two types of puffin!) and a HUGE Steller sea lion. Outside we even spotted a couple of (wild) Bald eagles. Wonderful!
The next day we got ourselves onboard a tour boat going out to the National Park. It was touch and go whether we'd manage to get out to the glacier because the seas had been rough that week, but luckily they'd subsided enough that the trip wouldn't be too arduous. We all piled on board and all set off for Aialik glacier. On the trip we spotted sea otters, seals, some Dall's porpoises as well as a couple of humpback whales; but the real star of the show was the glacier itself.
As we approached, we were all awed by its sheer immensity. It's literally a mile-wide wall of ice rising from the waters of the fjord. The captain turned off the boat's engines and we could hear the glacier as it cracked and split. Every now and again, small pieces of ice tumbled off the top of the sheer terminal face of the glacier and tumbled hundreds of feet into the water below but even these small pieces made a tremendous splash. It was only after seeing a few of these that we heard the guide mention that these 'small' pieces were probably the size of a sofa. Suddenly we all became aware of a deep cracking and we knew something was up. Smaller pieces were falling all around one section of the glacier's face and suddenly one huge protrusion gave itself up to the waters of the fjord as stunned tourists (and some rather bored looking harbour seals) looked on. I think everyone (except the seals) knew they'd witnessed something they'd remember for years to come.
On the way back we went by the Chiswell islands and spotted some seabirds and sea lions and managed to find a couple of humpback whales - but by this time we were short on time and had to head back. On the way we managed to tempt some Dall's porpoises into riding our bow wave. All in all, a magical day and certainly one of the highlights (of many) of our Alaska trip.
posted by Iff at
6:25 pm
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