Kenai Fjords NP: Glacier and Wildlife Cruise

(2018 Alaska Ep 39)

As our son Phil’s trip to Alaska came to a close,  we decided to take a six-hour glacier and wildlife cruise with Kenai Fjords Tours.  Our cruise on the Calisto Voyager would take us southwest from Seward (RabbiTRAILS Alaska Map, pt # 44) along the Alaska coastline and Kenai Fjords National Park.

We saw wildlife even before leaving the dock – playful otters, a lonely sea lion and even some jellyfish.

We left Seward and arrived at Aialik Glacier in about 30 minutes.  The ship stopped a quarter mile from the glacier.  It was a magnificent view on a magnificent day!

Our ship captain told us the face of the glacier is nearly 600 foot high and about a mile wide.  The glacier is noisy – with continuous cracking, occasional loud bursts that sound like cannon shots, and small ice flows that fall into the water every few minutes.

The glacier face has deep fissures and we hoped to see a large piece break free.  Such calving didn’t happen during our visit, but here is a 2015 YouTube video that shows Aialik Glacier calving.

Various-sized chunks of ice floated in the water near the glacier and numerous seals sunned themselves on the larger pieces.  One of the crew members explained the seals choose that location to avoid predators.

We left the glacier and spent most of the remainder of the cruise searching for wildlife around various islands just offshore.

Our boat and several others stopped to see a pod of Orca whales dive and surface.  Later we saw a larger humpback whale.  The captain explained humpback whales migrate to Hawaiian water during the winter.

On another island we saw a large group of barking steller sea lions.  They nervously waddled from the rocks into the water when our boat approached.

The islands are home to thousands of seagulls, cute puffins and other birds.  One puffin flew alongside our boat for a considerable distance before finally veering away.

We also saw a majestic bald eagle standing guard near the top of a rock face.

As the cruise came to an end, we were surprised by another flying spectacle – a kite surfer riding the brisk breezes above the ice cold waters of Resurrection Bay.