Eagles, Whales and Puffins MY MY

Last trip we took the all day boat cruise through the Kenai Fjords National Park to see glaciers and sealife, which was a wonderful trip. This time we took a dinner cruise to Fox Island where we got a special treat on the way back. The cruise is about 3 1/2 hours and heads to Fox Island along the shores of Resurrection Bay.

It was another typical cold afternoon but nice and warm in the cabin though we did venture outside of the cabin to take pictures. We drove up our campground and also saw some otters playing around.

This trip was taken at Marathon, our first campsite. Our rig is the third one on the left

We saw some beautiful scenery on the way to Fox Island, including glaciers and waterfalls.

We reached Fox Island, which is 12 miles south of Seward. It is an isolated island and home to the Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge, which was our destination for dinner. It was served buffet style, with prime rib, wild salmon, mashed potatoes, vegetables and rolls. The dinner was included in the price of the cruise though we did get one order of crab legs added for an additional cost. It was pretty good.

 We had about another hour for the return trip and it turned out to be exciting as we came near a pod of humpback whales. Everyone was oohing and aahing as the whales came in and old of the water putting on quite a show.

The tour guide told us to look where the birds all started congregating where the whales are feeding to wait for leftovers. The whales are on a group activity known as bubble netting. When they see a school of fish, they all dive below the surface and form a circle where they blow bubbles to form a net that the fish will not swim through. Then the whales ascend to the surface with their months open to catch as many fish as possible. Pretty awesome.

We were lucky to be able to see this, especially on the shorter dinner cruise. We continued back to the harbor enjoying some fresh baked warm chocolate cookies for desert. Then we were luck to see some eagles and a few more otters as we got back to the harbor.

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Another day we made a return trip to the Sealife Center. It is Alaska's premier public aquarium and Alaska's only mammal rehabilitatio facility. It is a fun place to watch some of Alaska's birds and other mammals.

We even got to see the puffins being fed. They are my favorites.

 There were a lot of interesting looking creatures in the tanks.

We had a great week at Seward and our next stop is Homer, another seaside town to enjoy.

Seward by the Sea

We  will be staying in the beautiful Kenai Pennisula for the next few weeks or so. Our next stop is Seward, which is the gateway to the world famous Keani Fjords National Park. As we did our previous trip we stayed at one of the City Parks which are all right on Resurrection Bay. We first stayed at Marathon Campground where we got one of the last front row sites.

Cruise ships are here most days, arriving early morning, usually before we are up. Then they leave early evening.

We were close enough to walk into the quaint town to walk around at the shops and where we ate out a few times. We ate at ChinookWaterfront several times. The first time we had the best Mac and Cheese we ever had. It had smoked scallops, pancetta, red onions and several types of cheese. Sooo Goood!!! We had steamed clams the second time and shared a fish plate with salmon, crab,etc. Not quite as good but still yummy.

Some of the many murals in Seward

Below is the library. We sat in the car in front to take advantage of their wifi as we couldn't get any reception from our site.

One day we drove out to Exit Glacier for a hike. Exit Glacier is a glacier derived from the Harding Icefield. There are a few different trails, some that go all the way to the base of the Glacier. We took one that didn't go that far but with a good view. There were signs on the way with dates showing how far the Glacier went that particular year. It has receded quite a bit.

1. 1. I took a few pictures fronm the road as well. It is pretty dramatic with all the cloud coverage.

   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   After a few days we moved down to another city camping spot down near the Alaska Sea Center. It is a small campground with only five sites but again right on the water. 

One day a gentleman was cleaning some fish he caught. He was throwing the inners out to the birds which ended up attracting a bald eagle. Pretty awesome!!

This Eagle got some fish for dinner

The next post will have our visit to the Aquarium as well as an interesting dinner cruise to Fox Island.