Sea Life and the Glaciers of Kenai Fjords

We got up the next morning and headed down to the docks to catch an all day cruise in Kenai Fjords. It was overcast and cool, so I was questioning my choice of shorts and a windbreaker, but it turned out fine. As we boarded the ship one guide was giving special rules to children under ten, so she first talked to Riley, and then talked to me. On the way out we saw one of the ships from that TV show deadliest catch, followed by three whale sightings, however they were up and down so quickly I was never able to catch anything more than the ripples on the water on film, or I guess these days on digital chip.


We also came across some seals.


The mountains were only slightly visible as we worked our way through the heavy fog. The sea was kind of rough and the boat rocked quite a bit, which caused a few to get sick. One of those who got sick thought it was a good idea to lean over the side and give back to the sea, which would have worked had she not been standing on the second level. Unfortunately with the rocking of the boat a few below on the first deck caught more than the splashing spray from the ocean.


We continued to the glacier, and after hearing the guy behind us for most of the trip, I concluded that he is quite possibly the biggest buffoon on the planet. This was some old man with his crusty old wife showing a younger friend around and this guy thought he knew everything. He was like Cliff Claven from Cheers, except his IQ was in the low 50s. He was trying to make it sound like he knew the area and all about the boat, but everything he said was wrong, plus he could not figure out how to convert knots to mph. A cute kid came up to his wife to say “Hi”, and his crusty old wife just said “Where is your owner?” Nice couple, he’s dumb and she’s mean.

As we got close to the glacier the sea became filled with ice chunks which made loud thunking sounds as they crashed in to the boat.


We slowed to a crawl and then through the fog the glacier appeared, and as we got close the fog lifted and sun came out, showing us the mountains that surrounded it.






Dang, now that’s big and beautiful. This was unreal and pictures cannot begin to capture its size and beauty. Not only that but as we sat there for a while you could hear thundering sounds as the ice cracked and came crashing down in to the water. At one point in history it filled the entire bay, however even though it moves forward three feet every day, it is melting and breaks away in to the water. This was the most incredible thing I saw on the trip.








After some time at the glacier we headed to Fox Island for a grilled salmon diner, some eagle watching, and some rock skipping.




We made the long journey back to the docks, headed back to the hotel and turned in.


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