Day 3 – Seward, Catamaran Cruise and Wildlife Experience

Day three began at 5:20 am when the alarm in our room went off and Jan couldn’t figure out how to get it turned off!! We caught our lodge transportation into downtown Seward at 9 am and walked from the Sea Life Center to the Small Boat Harbor. This walk was almost two miles in length and followed the cost of the city of Seward. We were surrounded by gigantic mountains, hundreds of sail and fishing boats, sunny skies, and a breezy 68 degrees. Once our boardwalk trip was completed we found ourselves at the Harbor Bakery for breakfast; gigantic cinnamon rolls, cheese danishes, and hot coffee!

We boarded a Catamaran boat at 10:30 am and left the Seward harbor on a wildlife experience at 11:00 am. What a day! The first few minutes of our 6 hour trip we saw fish jumping out of Resurrection Bay, 3 sea otters playing by our boat, and numerous glaciers! Once we were well under way our boat stopped in an inlet to watch two humpback whales play! We watched a mother and her calf for a good 15 minutes and got many great pictures. Once the humpbacks were content to move along our trip continued towards Alialik Glacier. Soon our captain was informing us that there were a school of Dall’s porpoises surrounding our boat that wanted to play in our wake! These creatures are so compelling, jumping and playing in the waves…its almost like they know how much joy they bring the people on board!

We finally made it to the glacier that was the ultimate destination of our cruise and were completely overwhelmed. The size alone is staggering! We were instructed to be silent as we sat in the shadow of this monster, the captain turned off the engine of our vessel and we watched the face. We were stunned to see large pieces, some the size of a car, fall across the front of the ice and crash into the ocean. What was amazing was the sound it made! It sounded like the largest 4^th of July display crashing and booming like fireworks!

We sat in the presence of Alialik Glacier for about 20 minutes and began our trek home. Once out in the open water again we began to see some kind of fins out the front of our boat. It turned out to be a pod of 10-15 Orca or Killer Whales. At this point we felt we had been touched by God himself! Seeing these creatures, in their natural habitat, playing and communicating with one another was almost too much!

We concluded our tour with a trip around Harbor Island, home to hoards of monster sea lions! Their growling and burping noises could be heard from miles away!

We heard from many locals that this was without doubt the best day they had had all year, and that they expected it to be the best for the rest of the year. What a gift today was! We are in the most beautiful place on Earth, truly.