Where We Went On A 6 Hour Tour On A Tiny Ship That Tossed

And Saw A LOT Of Wildlife

We started another long day with a drive to Seward from Anchorage for our excursion in Kenai Fjords National Park.

We saw beautiful scenery along the way.

When we arrived in Seward, we boarded the excursion boat that would take us out into Kenai Fjords

As we left the dock, the captain did warn us that there might be some choppy going for a good part of the 6 hours we’d be out and about.

And the captain didn’t lie. On the way out into the fjords, we did bounce a bit.

Right off the port bow, we spotted an orca. We were able to watch for about 10 minutes before we had to get under way

Floating by us was a mama otter and her pup. This is the instant they both looked at the boat t the same time,

We started seeing chunks of ice in the water as we drew closer to the Aialik Glacier. The crew scooped up some of the ice to include it in some adult beverages.

We saw lots of harbor seals lounging around on ice rafts.

I was doing extremely well with the bouncing boat, until the puffins. I had missed out on seeing puffins a couple of years ago on our British Isles Explorer cruise, so I was determined to see them now. The issue was – this required standing on the outside deck and training my phone camera on a small area in the cliffs ahead, while the boat was seriously bouncing.

Good news! I got some excellent photos!

The bad news is that my stomach thought this was a really, really, really bad idea. I managed to get back inside and sit down. Where I stayed for the rest of the trip staring at the horizon or a mountain, or anything large that didn’t move.

Meanwhile, more wildlife presented itself.

I made it safely back to land without a major mishap, though maybe just a little wobbly. Walking back to the bus, we saw a harbor seal in the, well, harbor.

After the wildlife cruise, we went back to the hotel for a few minutes before going to dinner at a restaurant just across the street. It had been a very long day, and we were all pooped.

Tomorrow: Back to Anchorage.