WILDLIFE AT ITS BEST

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Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.---------Confucius

WE ARE HEADING TO YELLOWSTONE FOR A WEEK THEN TO GRAND TETONS FOR 4 DAYS -------- THEN HOME TO GET READY FOR THE NEXT TRIP
MAUREEN AND BOB


July 14, 2005, Thursday. After a full day of rain yesterday, Thursday began with glimmers of sunshine and got our hopes up for the 8 hour Kenai Fjord National Park Cruise. However arriving at the pier, the staff informed us the weather was very unsettled out in the Alaskan Gulf. Did we want to continue with the trip? And, if the weather got worse the boat would be forced to return early. Hey life is a gamble and this is our window of opportunity, so of course, we went.
Kenai gives us a glimpse back to when ice covered much of North America, but Kenai Fjord is no static window to the past….as the ice recedes it uncovers glacially carved valleys that fill with sea water to form the fjords.
As we left the port in Seward, our captain gave a very informative narrative. It included a history of Seward and the earthquake of 1964, followed by a tsunami that dropped the shoreline 6 feet in 3.5 minutes.
We proceeded out of Resurrection Bay and passed glacier after glacier. As we got to the Alaskan Gulf we did have some chop, but the weather was improving and the sun was coming out. We slowed to watch some sea otters floating on their back and seemingly to have fun. Next we viewed some Puffins, black and white birds/ducks with bright orange beaks, they almost looked like cartoon birds. Our first stop was Aiailik (I-Alick) Glacier. We watched as house sized ice masses crashed from the glacier into the sea. We enjoyed a halibut lunch while listening and watching for more ice calving.
Our trip back included black bears playing on the beach, sea lions and harbor seals sunning themselves on the rocks, hump-back whales giving us a show in the water, as well as dolphins playing along side the boat following the wake. Wow! The weather was almost too sunny and hot and we were having a great time. The moral of the story is, never cancel a trip because of the possibility of bad weather!
The boat stopped at Fox Island, a private island, for a salmon dinner before returning to Seward. This was a wonderful, memorable experience.

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