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Published: June 15th 2009
First Humpback Whale
This was taken in Resurrection Bay. It was the first Humpback we saw today.DAY 3
We woke up this morning in room 3 of Bear Paw Lodge after a good night's sleep, thanks to the white noise mp3 we bought from iTunes and the blanket we put over the window (it's not 24 hours of sunlight down here, but it never really gets quite dark - I think the sun sets around 11:30 pm and rises around 4:30 am). We had no idea that it was going to be, but a continental breakfast was provided for us - all set up on the kitchen table. I got a cup of coffee and headed back to the room to try to figure out what the heck I was going to wear today. What does one wear to paddle through ice water? In the end, I chose a pair of hiking pants (cotton is highly discouraged), a tank top, a T-shirt, a long sleeve running shirt, a sweatshirt, an insulated running jacket, and I grabbed a windbreaker, a rain jacket, and rain pants...just in case. 😊 Jesse did not wear/bring nearly as much clothes as I did.
Anyway, we arrived to Kayak Adventures Worldwide at about 7:15 (after having to turn back
Stellar Sea Lions
These are the guys who can't make it on Chiswell Islands. Maybe if they lay around all summer getting fatter they can hold their own with the big guys next year! to the lodge to fetch the camera - at least we remembered!), where we met our guide and the two other people joining us on our trip. We got fitted for our life jackets, signed our lives away, grabbed our gear, and headed for the water taxi.
Seward is on Resurrection Bay, but we were going to be kayaking in Aialik (pronounced "eye-al-ick") bay near Aialik Glacier. So, our water taxi had to take us on a two to two-and-a-half hour boat ride to our paddling destination. Aialik Glacier is part of Kenai Fjords National Park, which is the only national park only accessible by boat.
After about a half an hour on our taxi, we saw our first wildlife - a humpback whale coming up close to the surface to breathe. He surfaced a few times before we saw him arch and flip his tail up, which signaled that he was going down for a deep dive and would not be returning for about 20 minutes.
After another little while, our "captain" took us past the west side of (I think) Cheval Island (which is nearing the bottom of Aialik
Dall's Porpoise
Just a glimpse before he dives back under for some more fun! See the video to get the full effect. Peninsula in Resurrection Bay), where we saw several sea lions resting on some large boulders in the water. Apparently, these are the males who weren't able to defend themselves in the breeding area, and got kicked out to fend for themselves on these rocks. They were so cute and looked so comfortable!
As we rounded the bottom of Aialik Peninsula, we came across some Dull's Porpoises. They LOVE to get in front of boats to feel get pushed along in the water and play! They looked like they were having a great time! Jesse got a video because they're so fast it's hard to take a picture of them. As they played, several more came to the boat to get a piece of the action. This went on for several minutes before they lost interest.
We also saw several water birds as we took our trip - gulls, puffins, and others of which I don't know the names.
A bunch of sea otters were hanging out in the calm waters. They lay on their backs in the water because their feet and tail are not covered with the super dense fur
Sea Otters
They scare easily, so we had to stay away. You can see their little heads peeking up as they lay on their backs. that the rest of their bodies are covered with. Apparently the babies, however, are covered in fur so thick and fuzzy that they actually float and CAN'T swim under the water! Their mothers wrap seaweed around them that acts like a little leash!
Finally, we arrived at our drop off point, which was a beach about 2 or 3 miles from the glacier (the glacier that we could see from miles away that just kept getting bigger and bigger as we got closer). The kayak company is allowed to keep the kayaks in the park so that they don't have to lug them back and forth every time they take a trip, which was very convenient. We pulled out 3 kayaks, got a couple lessons in paddling and steering and were on our way!
I sat in back of the kayak so I could steer while Jesse did most of the paddling (I did help a little). 😊 It was quite cool on the water, but I was prepared with my several layers of clothing and did not feel cold at all. I had also donned a hat by this point (as had Jesse).
Paddling
Still a couple miles from the glacier, it kept getting bigger as we paddled away through the ice! As we got going, we noticed several small "icebergs" floating around in the water. Most of them we were able to plow right through at first, but they got bigger as we went on, and eventually the guide, Kyle, had to blaze a trail for us to follow. There were several chunks big enough for seals to lay out on, which they were doing at that time! They were a little hard to see, because we tried to stay away from them since they spook easily. However, a few got curious, and started to kinda pop up their heads not too far from us. They'd pop up, swim by (toward the back of our caravan of kayaks), they dive down under the water. I noticed this happen several times, and finally realized that we had a follower. He was adorable! He just kept popping up in front of us, swimming by while keeping his head up and watching us, then diving back under. He followed us all the way until we landed at our destination near the glacier. Jesse and I named him Scout. Actually, in the end, there were three I could see hanging out in the water watching
In the Kayak
Stopping for a photo opp. us as we pulled our kayaks out of the water.
We pulled our kayaks out of the water and took a walk through some vegetation and some ICE COLD streams to get closer to the glacier to eat our lunch. Luckily, Jesse and I had bought some water shoes for our trip, which were awesome. We walked through the streams without any trouble and our feet were able to warm up fairly quickly once we got out.
As we ate our lunch watching the glacier, we saw it calve (break off) several times. It was an amazing sight to see. And the white thunder (that's what the sound of the breaking is called) was awesome as well. We actually listened to that all day, since you can't really see all the calving that occurs. In fact, if you hear the thunder, you've already missed the calving. The colors of the glacier were beautiful - white and blue, with the greenish water below. Very cool.
Finally, we finished our lunch and headed back on our kayaks through the icebergs to the beach to wait for the water taxi. The whole experience was
Our view
Very calm waters and a gorgeous view! Couldn't ask for a better day! amazing!
On our way back, we got picked up by a different taxi that was driven by the wife of the "crazy French-Canadian" who had driven us that morning. Both of them were super friendly and really wanted us to get the full experience. As we got to the end of Aialik Peninsula, she noticed that another boat was hanging around in open water and took our boat out in the water with them to check it out. Two humpback whales were hanging out, surfacing, spraying from their blow holes, every 20 to 30 seconds. It was so cool! Our camera was nearly out of batteries by this point, so I only got a picture or two, but it was awesome. One of the pictures was taken just as one of the whales breached the water (jumped out)! I only got the splash of him going back in, but it was still pretty neat. I wish I'd been able to take a video, though. We watched for several minutes before they both decided it was time to show us their tales and dive down.
That was about it. We were tired, the weather had
Harbor Seals
See the little black specks? Those are Harbor Seals hanging out on the ice. Some got scared as we went by, others followed us - but only from a safe distance and always disappearing again! turned a little worse. It had been mostly overcast all day, but very calm with no rain, but now it was getting darker, foggier, and rainy. The sound of the boat motor was making me sleepy, and I eventually fell asleep on Jesse's shoulder for a little while.
We got back to Bear Paw Lodge, made ourselves some dinner (a nice way to save some money!), and are now hanging out in our room until we fall asleep and prepare for glacier hiking tomorrow!
I seriously can't believe how lucky we are! I'd be happy if the kayaking was all we were able to do...and we've still got so much more planned!
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Leah B
non-member comment
Wow!
What an amazing day! So much wildlife up there--can't wait to see pics :)