N 59°51'08"
W 149°51'59"
The last day of June was a milestone in the Alaskan Adventure. It was the day of beautiful sunny to check out the glaciers to the south. We traveled to Seward, Alaska which is about an hours drive south of Cooper Landing. Soon after arriving we made our way to Kenai Fjords Tours which do bay tours of the Kenai Fjords National Park's Glaciers and wildlife. We embarked just after 3pm as a sea otter scavenged for clams on the bay bottom, but we had a little time to kill before hand. With a few hours before departure, we doubled back and headed to Exit Glacier in the Kenai Fjords National Park just outside of Seward. After a 15 minute cruise through the serenity of the Kenai Fjords, we saw our first glimpse of the river of ice known as Exit Glacier. With still tender sores and fresh blisters from treks of days past, we hiked the couple mile round trip to the toe and base of the glacier. Making our way to the toe of Exit Glacier took us along a very clean and well maintained trail that was a cakewalk compare to our other recent hikes. But as we approached the toe, the forest canopy opened up the large flat basin of the streams flowing strong from the fresh glacial melt. These several streams were just wide enough that it required to remove our shoes in order to cross, and glacial melt water is the kind of cold that practically demands you redefine the word freezing. But when you have already made it this far, you just have to lick that glacier.
Exit Glacier is the most popular glacier to see in Alaska. This is mostly due to the fact that is the most accessible glacier, but it is the kind of thing that you make time for. To reach out and touch something so massive that is slowly in motion has an aesthetic value that will usually be near the top of everyone list for things to do. Trust me it was worth it. Mmmmmmm glacial ice, but now to the sea voyage.
Resurrection Bay is surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery you can imagine. Jagged masses of earth and rock with white caps outline the bay, but this is only the opener for the grandeur you are about to witness. The captain of the Orca Voyager hugs the western shore of Caines Head where we get our first taste of the wildlife. A pair of bald eagles watched over the Orca Voyager from their cliff side perches as we slowly cruised by. The rocky keys resulting from the Pacific Ring of Fire give an uncanny resemblance to those islands in the South China Sea. These rocky protrusions are mostly composed of granite and typically covered in wild grass and flowers and packed with as many coastal conifers as the small island can support. These various water accessible habitats are largely inhabited by the common Alaskan sea birds, various sea gulls (which are just like most other gulls, I mean they are only so interesting) and the Puffins. Puffins are surprisingly interesting for a stubby little sea bird. The Horned Puffin and the Tufted Puffin are these small black and white sea birds with orange beaks that have little dinky wings which are more suited for underwater swimming that flying (their feathers actually absorb water so that they can swim better). Puffins have to flap their wings so violently that they almost never just soar, and they take refuge on the rocky keys of the bay. Their nests are on high cliffs, and they are so awkward in the air that they have to make several passes just to touch down safely on the steep ledge. If you imagine a small penguin that actually flies, you will be pretty close to imagining a puffin.
As the captain circumvented the keys in search of the Alaskan megafauna, the Steller Sea Lion. Steller Sea Lions are the kind of wildlife that really enjoy a good afternoon nap, but with a short fuse. Any small rocky platform only a few feet above the tide line is fair game for the your very day foul tempered and rather obese Sea Lion. They crowd almost very inch of the expose sunny platform with overlapping lethargic bodies that looks like a bunch of hungover drunks who have passed out on the one couch in the whole place.
After the sea lion encounter, we were far enough out of the bay that we could have a panoramic look at the vast Pacific Ocean. Deep blue glass, flat and as far as the eye can see. We haven't seen a flat horizon like that since Saskatchewan, but the most awing fact at the time was knowing that the next significant landmass (assuming you miss or factor out Hawaii) is Antarctica. That's a whole lot of open water with a whole lot of nothing (other than Garbage Island just in the North Pacific Gyre).
This area has a few companies that charter vessels to view wildlife and the glaciers in the neighboring national park. These ships communicate and collaborate with each other all day in efforts to collect vital information on sea, weather and wildlife conditions in order to provide the tourists with the best possible voyage for their money. So the Orca Voyager got a tip from a near by vessel of a Transient Orca pod, and the captain abruptly reversed course and went full speed. The Transient Orca is a common inhabitant of Southern Alaskan bays. Transient Orcas actually do not feed on fish; their diet mostly consists of seals and sea lions and the occasional sea otter. We saw the bust coming from their blow holes as the small pod surfaces for air. At least 5 Orcas in the pod glided between our to vessel as we idled at a considerably far distance. Orcas are actually misclassified as whales from their more common name of Killer Whales. They get that name from the fact that they are the great pack hunters of the sea, and while they are technically large dolphins falling in the ocean dolphin family of Delphinidae. It is surprising to note that wild Orcas actually will sometimes have their dorsal fin bent and rounded over usually due to some sort of stress (possibly emotional) just like the Orca in Free Willy. We saw an Orca with a rounded dorsal fin. They are magnificent creatures.
Moments later we stumbled across a full grown female Humpback whale with her year old calf. At first they were very shy only coming up a few times for air, but even something so trivial is quite entertaining. The first glimsp you catch of this massive creature is the bust of mist that explodes from her blow hole as she breaks the rough blue glass of the Northern Pacific Ocean. She then takes a few more small breaths with her calf before her enormous back breaks the water, arches and begins to dive towards depths of the deep blue with a flashy tail showing. It seemed as if they were about to make their way away from the public of the cruise boats, so the captain decided to press on and leave the whales along. Only moments later in the wake of the Orca Voyager, the formerly timid humpbacks are now putting on a performance of a lifetime at our backside. The captain raced back to the whales in time to see of spectacular behavior between a mother and her calf. Tail smacking, barrel rolls with enormous fins smashing into the choppy waters of the Pacific. Even out of the corner of my eye, I got to see a full breach (from a considerable distance) just like in the Pacific Life logo. That is the kind of thing that everyone should see at least once, and I managed to fit it in while I was in Alaska.
Now to the main attraction, Holgate Glacier lies on the coordinates above, and it is the most glorious thing you can imagine to see a glacier that reaches out to touch the bay. The whole inlet around glacier has this eerie calmness to it. Large and small pieces of ice that broke off from the glacier float around the bay like ice cubes in a large punch bowl, and they make a snap, crackle pop in the frigid bay waters like Rice Krispies in milk. If you listen carefully you begin to hear what I can only describe as rolling distant thunder. Occasionally you a deep rumble like a quickly approaching storm. This is your first sign that a gargantuan sized piece of ice is about to lose its battle of gravity and come crashing into the placid waters below. The entire time we were there we witnessed three ice collapses, and it was truly an awesome sight.
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