Cruising around Seward

We drove down to Seward for the weekend to check out the sea life and for Jason to fish for Salmon. As we pulled into Seward, the sunny sky turned gloomy and rain started falling. We bundled up and were ready to go out on the water. Ellie loved riding in the Bjorn.

Willem had fun learning how to use binoculars.

Ellie came alive up on the deck, she loved being outside and crawling around. Neither kids seemed to mind the cold. Willem was enamored with watching the captain and looking for wildlife. He liked going up on the deck with Dad as did Ellie.

I was most excited about seeing the glaciers calve and it lived up to my expectation. Up until this point we'd only seen glaciers that were between mountains and were very far away. They told us on the cruise that glaciers are moving rivers of ice and we saw the river in action while enjoying lunch. While up on the deck we ice calve a few times and quickly realized why they were keeping us as far out as they were Those chunks of ice could flip a smaller boat. As the ice fell into the water it sounded like a fireworks show, some lasting as long as the finale on 4th of July. Hard to deny global warming after seeing pictures of the glacier 30 years ago compared to now.

Puffins in their nests

Sunbathing Stellar Sea lions-say that one 5 times

We also saw porpoises and another highlight of the trip, humpback whales. We happened upon a pair of humpback whales just on the edge of Resurrection Bay and the Gulf of Alaska and the show they put on was surreal. We felt so lucky to get to see them living in their natural habitat. They would dive under and they jumped out of the water a couple of times. They floated on their back, flapping their tail and then would roll over. They were so large, it was much easier for Willem to follow them than the other animals. We must have watched them for half an hour and the whole boat was stirring with their every move.

The cruise was 6 hours long and the crew was fantastic at keeping the kids engaged in learning about the animals. The Park Ranger on board served as the guide throughout the cruise and she had a Junior Ranger program for the kids. Willem worked on his workbook throughout the cruise and received his official Junior Ranger badge at the end of the cruise. Shown here taking the Ranger oath.

We all slept well at the end of the day.