A Trip aboard the Aialik Voyager

On Tuesday August 18th we drove to Seward to take one of the Kenai Fjords tours. Even before we boarded our boat we were enjoying a Sea Otter munching some barnacles for a snack. What a beautiful creature.        

 

Our tour was the National Park Tour. We sailed out Resurrection Bay the turned into the Aialik Glacier Bay.  We left the harbor at 11 am and returned at 4 pm. Our Captain was a young lady and what a wonderful trip she gave us. Did I mention that the sky was blue, and the sun was out?        

   

I will probably tell you more about Seward tomorrow. Now I want to share the animals and birds we saw.

First we met some shy Harbor Seals.        

 

Next we encountered some Humpback Whales. I was thrilled to get these pictures as the whale would pop up for a breath and then drive down. Totally unpredictable. The birds were often circling over where the whales were feeding so that gave us a clue.

   

As we left Resurrection Bay we went past an island with Horned Puffin. These birds raise one chick and swim to depths of 250 feet. They fly better through water than they do air.

   

We then proceeded into the Aialik Glacier which is a tide basin glacier which means it empties into the ocean. It is currently moving about 6 miles a day. We saw calving, but I did not catch any of the icefall with my camera.

   

   

   

As we headed out of the bay, our captain told us there was a humpback whale breaching in front of us. During a breach a whale will thrust more than 75% of its body out of the water. Possible reasons for breaching are communication, cleanliness or just plain fun.  This young male whale was having a ball giving us a great show.

We then approached an island to meet a group of Steller Sea Lions. Their population is declining dangerously. They hunt fish at night and haul out to rest during the day.

   

What a great day we were having but it wasn't over yet. As we headed back to Seward the Captain exclaimed that we were in for a special treat that most tours don't get. A pod of Orca was swimming with us.  They were quite a ways off but we could see them and even get a few pictures.

We returned to our harbor quite happy. We had see it all and had a perfect day. But we hadn't. I'll tell you about the salmon run we saw in another post.  What a beautiful day!