We arrived at the Seward wharf at 0800 as instructed for our 8.5 hour Northwestern Fjord Tour which traverses the more remote regions of the Kenai Fjords National Park including, amongst others, the Northwestern Glacier.
We heard for perhaps the tenth time that ‘this has been a very wet August’ – May and June were ‘lovely’ apparently 😜 – as we set off in misty rain once again but were assured that the wildlife doesn’t mind the rain.
Apparently true, we spotted a cheeky sea otter in the harbour dining on crab and we weren’t too far into the cruise when the captain announced that he had heard on the group tour operator radio that a pod of Orcas were in the vicinity so we headed in that direction.
An orca’s dorsal fin can grow to 6 feet tall but you’ll notice the third orca in the second photo has a bent over dorsal fin. This is typically seen in captive orcas due to stress but for unknown reasons sometimes occurs in the wild too. Our captain knew this pod well and told us that they were resident orcas in the area rather than transient. We watched them for perhaps half an hour before heading off in a southerly direction through the Chiswell Islands before making a right turn and cruising up through the narrow and spectacular Granite Passage toward the Northwestern Glacier.
Although the weather wasn’t ideal we were able to get much closer to this glacier and were lucky enough to see it ‘calving’ – several pieces the size of a small building crashed into the sea whilst we were there causing more than a slight ripple and a thunderous crash.
It was quite surreal sitting in the bay with our engine turned off and just listening to the glacier. The brown spots you can see on the ice in the foreground are actually basking harbor seals.
We had travelled roughly seventy miles to this spot, very few other operators come this far so we were thankful to enjoy the moment in solitude.
We were even able to celebrate the moment by having a Bailey’s on ice – glacial ice that is, which melts four times slower than normal ice and is between 4-600 years old!
On the return trip we passed by a Steller Sea Lion colony and also saw some elusive puffins which were more difficult to photograph in rolling seas 😉
The rain persisted but they say that every cloud has a silver lining and we were lucky enough to see some stunning waterfalls in the Pony Island vicinity which our captain informed us only run when its raining…
Heading back to Seward we threaded our way through towering cliffs crowned with verdant rainforest, occasionally spotting bald eagles overhead and jumping salmon in the water. What a stunning coastline, I felt privileged to be there and see it in its pristine glory.
It was late in the day when we docked back in Seward, more than a little damp but exhilarated by our experiences today and ready to appreciate a hot shower. Thank you Major Marine!
Tomorrow, it’s north to Anchorage.