Alaska: Kenai Fjord Cruise from Seward

My first full day in Seward Alaska consists of a nature cruise. I have a little anxiety about going on this cruise because I have had the bad luck of not seeing much wildlife on cruises or the tour getting cancelled for bad weather in past attempts. Neither happens today. The Captain’s Choice National Park Tour goes on spectacularly. Most of the boat tours have a set itinerary but this particular tour goes where the Captain sees best and the captain is amazing. On this cruise I see more wildlife than I expected. My animal checklist on the cruise pamphlet has me check off ten out of the thirteen possible animals.

The first wildlife we see are the cheeky sea otters. They love swimming along the side of the boat. We learn how these otters were almost extinct because they used to be hunted for their unique fur. Their special fur keeps them very insulated and dry.

We next spot some mountain goats. We see a mom and a baby goat. The mother is trying to teach the baby to climb. It is endearing to watch the mom encourage the kid and the kid too scared to climb.

Next we see a glacier – Holgate Glacier. What is good about this cruise is we come very close to the glacier, something we were unable to do with the big cruise ship. It is a more intimate experience. The crew collects some floating ice from the glacier and I order a glacierita made with the ice.

After the glacier we are back to animal viewing. We first see the cormorant, a bird that is an excellent diver.

I finally see some puffins, in fact we see two types: Horned Puffin and Tuffed Puffin.

We cruise by a bunch of stellar sea lions.

I am introduced to the Common Murre.

Also seen is a beautiful bald eagle.

We also catch Humpback whales, Orcas, dal’s porpoise and harbor seals.

We arrive back at the dock and all I can think about is some more king crab legs. Luckily there is a restaurant nearby that has them on the menu.

I walk around town and back to my hotel with a view full stomach. I don’t think I have ever seen so much sea life in one day. I highly recommend the cruise.

Alaska: College Fjord & Seward

Today is the last day of cruising. Luckily there is no early start. I start my morning with a causal breakfast and a rest on the upper deck.

I have no plans until the afternoon so I sign up for a wine tasting. I try many wines and snack on some cheese.

We arrive in College Fjord and it is time for the on deck observation. I see more beautiful vistas and glaciers. What we see here are tidewater glaciers -glaciers that are fed by the snow and break off into the sea.

It is the last night on the ship so the main dining room has its napkin swirling music celebration.

I try to stay out a little my last night but I don’t make it a late night.

The next morning we depart early.

The cruise port is Whittier but it is actually 60 miles from Anchorage. Transportation options are limited so we hop on a bus to take us to the Anchorage airport. From there I am picking up a rental car but I will spend a couple hours with family in town while they wait for their flight. The bus ride to Anchorage is scenic and the driver plays theme music as we travel through the long tunnels. There is some commentary on the way, so you aren’t just getting a quiet and boring bus ride.

Today is no Kings protest so I briefly participate in the protest by honking while I drive by in my rental car.

My cousin and I stop for lunch. He splurges on King Crab once again and I try a Yak burger.

I drop him off at the airport and start my drive to Seward where I am spending my next few days. During my initial planning I wanted to take the coastal trains to Seward because I read the views on the journey are unforgettable but the I am unable to fit the train times into my schedule. I rent an expensive rental car instead. I am rewarded with a beautiful drive of my own where I stop occasionally to enjoy the views during the two plus hour drive.

When I arrive my motel room is ready. Accommodations in Seward are not fancy and they are not cheap but the room is clean and convenient to town. Hotels tend to be pricey here because there aren’t many of them and the official tourist season is fairly short.

I check into my room and walk into town to see if they have tables at the highly rated Cookery restaurant and they do. I sit at the bar and eat the most delicious meal. The service is friendly and they actually cook salmon correctly. I could have eaten here multiple times since the menu looks fantastic.

It’s still early and due to the sun setting very late this time of year it appears I have so much day left so I walk around town and along the water. I pass by a campsite that is lively. It seems like many drive their campers out here for the summer and enjoy the mild temperatures. (Or I am just really lucky because I have terrific weather during my entire Alaska adventures.

Tomorrow I have a nature cruise and I hope it leaves as scheduled in the morning. In the past I’ve had bad luck with those types of cruises but I feel like my luck is changing.

Alaska Cruise: Juneau

Today we are docking in Juneau, Alaska. I have another excursion booked but it doesn’t leave until the afternoon so there is no rush to get off the ship. My cousin and I are going on this excursion today so we coordinate our day. We’ll disembark this morning to explore Juneau, eat some king crabs then meet up with our tour group.

Even though the line is long we pay the expensive fee to take the tram up to the Roberts Peak. There is some First Nation’s exhibits, hiking trails and some gorgeous views of below. We hike one of the trails.

There is an option to hike down but I am unsuccessful in talking my cousin into it, plus we don’t know how long it would take us and our priority is to get some king crabs legs at Tracy’s King Crab Shack. We wait in the line for Tracy’s. It isn’t the longest but we do wait a bit – however it is worth it. Seeing the hefty price tag we decide on a 1lb per person instead of the bucket and it is the perfect size. I walk out still very full and very satisfied. The only thing we ask for more of is some butter and my cholesterol will hate me later for it.

We still have time to spare before we meet our tour so we walk as far as we have time for towards the other end of town.

Our tour is whale watching and a visit to Mendenhall Glacier afterwards. Each of these things can be coordinated on your own for probably cheaper but it seemed safer to book through the cruise to save the planning hassle and there is a better odds they would get you back in time to board the ship before it leaves; there is always that risk when you go off on your own. If I did it again I’d probably do a choose your own adventure day because I would have liked a little more time to hike the longer trail at Mendenhall Glacier and we did not have enough time on our visit for it.

This is the third whale watching tour I have attempted – the first was cancelled in New Zealand due to weather and the second in the Azores was only filled with dolphins – so I am hopeful at another chance to see whales. We do see some breaching briefly from the window of a cruise ship bar but that doesn’t count. Fortunately we are successful on this boat. At first I am slow to see them because I am always on the opposite end or side of the boat when it happens and it isn’t easy as a shortie to get a peak from behind other people, but I eventually get my views since it appears there is enough whale action to go around.

We catch our bus and head back to the ship for another afternoon cocktail, man we are living a tough life this week.

Alaska Cruise: Ketchikan

We’ve arrived at Ketchikan and booked a private tour. We didn’t love the excursion choices and wanted to dictate our own agenda for the day.

We disembark early and have some time before we meet our guide so we walk up and down the port while we wait.

We meet up with our tour guide – a younger active guy who has some suggestions for us. It is during our tour that I start compiling a list of all the things that are trying to kill you in Alaska:

Lack of vitamin D
Landslides 
Devils club
False azalea 
Cows parsnip
Skunk cabbage

Our first stop is at a beautiful beach park with lots of interesting looking formations at the shore. It is at this park I see my first bald eagle of the day.

We head to wildlife observation spot where another tour guide is using food to attract birds to the area. We are collectively not fans of this so we decided to try again later.

Our guide then takes us to an off-the-beaten path waterfall with and more off-the-beaten path trail. The trail is not well marked or heavily used. I am sure typical cruise passengers would not be up for taking this rustic trail to get a better waterfall view but we are wearing the right kind of shoes so we are game.

We then stop at a small totem park where we learn more about totems and the stories behind them. We also meet a local artisan who makes knives and other metal items. Unfortunately the totem carver was gone the whole time we were there but we did see a bear wandering around by the nearby river.

After our tour we wander around the town of Ketchikan. I stop at some stores and try some salmon samples. I only wish we were here during spawning season. I think it would be cool to watch the fish, or even bears catching fish.

It’s time now to return to the ship. We head up to the bar at the back of the boat to get a nice view of the boat leaving the port.

Dinner and then rest up for another port day tomorrow.

Alaska Cruise: Bon Voyage

Today we board our cruise ship. My aunt drops us off with the luggage and we wait while she returns the rental car (she rented a car to do some nature excursions while we toured Vancouver). Once aboard we have some time before our room is ready so we head to the main dining for lunch. If you are not familiar with cruising, there is typically many ways on the ship to get fed. One of the more formal ways is in the main dining room where a waiter takes your order off a menu of set choices for the day. We decided it would be a good start to our cruise.

Our first day of the cruise is at sea. We are heading to Alaska and I guess it takes a while to get there. We enjoy some of what the ship has to offer. No pool time though because it is mostly too cold. I do sign up for a fitness class that kicks the crap out of me that first day.