Glaciers, Orcas and Eagles–Oh My!: Kenai Fjords National Park

This post includes a lot of firsts for us. First time seeing a tidewater glacier, first time seeing a glacier calving, first time seeing an iceberg, first time seeing a jellyfish bloom, first time seeing a puffin and first time seeing orcas in the wild. In addition, we also saw lots of sea otters, sea lions, seals, bald eagles and other sea birds. It was nature at its finest. All I can say is WOW!!! It was awesome. What a day! If you are ever in Seward, Alaska–go on this tour.

The only way to see the Kenai Fjords National Park is by boat or by air. How cool is that? There are a couple of tour companies to choose from. We went with the Major Marine Tours 6.5 hour excursion and that was just right–the perfect length. We also got the prime rib and salmon lunch buffet and it was good. The boat we were on had three decks with two large interior decks with the front or back deck open to the outside and the top deck was open as well. We spent the first part of the trip on the top deck, but it got a little cold, so after lunch we spent more time inside–except when there were things to see.

Well enough chatter–let’s get to the pictures. Glaciers first because that was the main attraction. These are tidewater glaciers because they come right up to the ocean. We saw Bear Glacier, but it is no longer a tidewater glacier because it has receded back from the ocean. We saw two tidewater glaciers. The first was Holgate Glacier and it was huge. The pictures do not do it justice. But it was the little sister of the Aialik Glacier which was more than twice its size.

The next biggest highlight of the trip was unexpectedly happening upon a pod of Orcas. I have tried to see Orcas on Orca tours and never saw them, but on a Glacier tour we saw Orcas. We saw a male orca with its large dorsal fin standing straight up (pretty intimidating when it is coming towards you. And we saw a momma and baby orca. We followed them for quite a while and got a lot of great pictures. Here are the best ones.

We also happened upon a very interesting phenomenon known as a jellyfish bloom. There were thousands of jellyfish all together in the middle of the ocean. The ocean was actually a turquoise color where they were.

We also experienced seeing a lot of other things. There was a whole family of sea otters hanging out at the base of a tidewater glacier. There were eagles, puffins and all kinds of other sea birds on the edges of the cliffs that came up to the ocean and there were hundreds of seals and sea lions.

The only unfortunate thing about the trip was that Mom ended up getting seasick after looking at the jellyfish. She was kind of miserable after that and so she missed the yummy lunch.

This tour was amazing and well worth the cost. Don’t miss this opportunity if you are ever in Seward, Alaska!!!