Kenai Fjords Tours - Seward, Alaska

For closeup opportunities to see area wildlife and glaciers, the Kenai Fjords Tours offers a National Park day cruise from Seward, Alaska. We got on a large double deck boat with inside heated seating with large picture windows and outdoor seating. The captain took us out of the Seward harbor and out into Resurrection Bay. The Russians named it Resurrection Bay because they discovered it on Easter Sunday. We continued on out into the Gulf of Alaska where we saw quite a few fishing boats.

We wove in between several islands and the captain pulled up close to one so we could see a group of Stellar's sea lions on a rocky pull out site. There were quite a few baby sea lions in the group, and the captain informed us that they had just learned to swim. We cruised on along the edge of Kenai Fjords National Park. We came up to several more small islands that were inhabited by many sea birds. We got to see quite a few puffins, cormorants, kittiwakes and parakeet auklets. The puffins were the most unusual . They have wings that are just a little too short and bodies that are just a little too heavy. This makes them really bad at taking off and landing. It takes everything they've got to get off the ground and 9 out of every 10 landings are aborted. They have large multicolored beaks that allow them to carry several fish at a time back to their fledglings.

Next the captain took us up into some of the passages or fjords. He took us right up close to a huge tidewater glacier. He turned the engine off and asked everyone to be silent. We listened and watched the glacier closely. Every minute or two we could see ice crumbling down from the glacier into the water. A second or two later we would hear a sound like crashing thunder. Sometimes huge chunks of the glacier would fall off and come crashing down into the water. This is called calving. The sound was really impressive. The glaciers are an eerie shade of light blue.

Huge chunks of ice were floating all around us. Some of the larger pieces of ice had harbor seals resting on them. The harbor seals prefer to give birth on the floating chunks of ice so that predators such as bears cannot get to their young. The only predators they have to worry about are gulls and bald eagles. On the way back to the harbor the captain spotted a few porpoises but they did not stay around for long. Sometimes the boat tours see humpback whales or an orcas but we were not that lucky on our tour. In the middle of the tour we were served a lunch with a choice of fried halibut or chicken. The boat went a total of 110 miles in 6 hours, a most enjoyable tour. Phone 907-224-8068 800-478-8068.

Reservations are necessary.

Departure times
8:00 am - Returning 2:00 pm(5/13,20,5/25-9/9)
11:30 am - Returning 5:30 pm(5/5 - 10/7)
3:00 pm - Returning 9:00 pm(6/2 - 8/26)

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