We arrived in Seward on a rainy day and couldn’t see much of the gorgeous landscape. Still, everyone was talking about cruises through the Kenai Fjords. Normally we ignore such things because we are trying to extend this trip by saving money. But, Adolfo’s birthday was coming up, and photos of all sorts of wildlife and glaciers got our attention. We decided we’d splurge for his birthday if the weather cleared up.
On his birthday Adolfo woke up early to look out the windows. It was sunny. We jumped into our warmest clothing and headed to the port to buy tickets for the 9-hour tour through Resurrection Bay, the Kenai Fjords, and on to Northwestern Glacier.
As we left Resurrection Bay, we sailed past small coves, cliffs, and spires. Determined trees and wildflowers grew at the top of spires, and waterfalls draped down the sides of cliffs. The coves looked like perfect areas to explore with a kayak. Perhaps we can so that someday. 
Seals sunbathed in some of the coves, sea lions in others (Blow up photo to see). On top of a tall spire we saw a bald eagle looking over the ocean for its next meal. A black oystercatcher looked out as she guarded her nest, and puffins flew in every direction. One cliff seemed to be the home of mini penguins. The captain explained that penguins only live in Antarctica and that these are murres. 
An otter floated along beside our boat. He didn’t seem affected in the least by the 150 passengers pointing at him excitedly. Instead, the otter folded his arms over his chest and bobbed up and down with the current. 
A group of dall’s porpoises chose to entertain us when they saw the boat. They swam to the bow of our boat and raced beside us as all the humans ran to see the “mini-orcas.” Again, the captain explained that these are porpoises and that orcas are actually of the dolphin family. He was able to show us the orcas later when we came upon a group of them.
Our destination was Northwestern glacier on Harris Bay. The entire area was lined with tidal glaciers. I’ve seen these types of glaciers in documentaries discussing global warming, but seeing the real thing is so much more powerful. As we sailed through the area, we saw more and more ice floating in the bay until we were finally surrounded by ice. A sea lion rested on one larger piece of floating ice.
The caption sailed the ship right to the edge of the Northwestern Glacier, luckily we dressed in our warmest clothing because it was quite chilly. The glacier has a stunning blue color under the white snow. When the captain turned the boat’s engine off, we could hear the glacier. As the ice calved, we listened to the cracking and thundering. In some cases, large chunks fell into the ocean then floated back to the surface. Other pieces spilled down like waterfalls. We could hear much sound that must have been from calving on areas of the glacier that were not visible to us.
I tried to capture this experience with a camera, but it just cannot be done. The memories will have to suffice.
beautiful!
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