Walter and Sara Let the good times roll
We left off in Part XIX in Seward Alaska getting ready to go on a wildlife cruise to Kenai Fjords National Park. The forecast was for sun breaks and smooth motoring which is what we were looking for.

Here's a map of our route.

Kenai Fjords Cruise Map

We left from the docks in downtown Seward and motored out into Resurrection Bay.

Moorage for tour boats in Seward Alaska

While it wasn't sunny, the water was glassy and the views of the mountains surrounding Resurrection Bay were beautiful.

Resurrection Bay Alaska

Resurrection Bay Alaska

Resurrection Bay Alaska

We hadn't been motoring long at all when we spotted a sea otter right next to the boat.

Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska

After he had posed for us a while he began to do sideways somersaults in the water. It turns out they do this to both wash their fur and to get air bubbles in it to increase it's insulating ability.

Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
Sea Otter Resurrection Bay Alaska  

Off to the east of Resurrection Bay you could see the Godwin Glacier.

Godwin Glacier

We had a female captain (blonde and very good looking) who had many years of experience spotting wildlife. We hadn't been out for even an hour when she slowed and directed our attention to a whale blow. If you look carefully you can see the fin of the whale along the water line and the blow in front of the rock face on the hillside.

Whale blow Kenai Fjords cruise Alaska

Everyone went out on deck (along with the Kenai Fjords National Park Ranger who narrates the cruise) to watch.  It turned out to be a humpback whale and her calf.

Humpback whale Kenai Fjords Cruise Alaska Humpback whale and calf Kenai Fjords Cruise Alaska
   
Humpback whale and calf Kenai Fjords Cruise Alaska Humpback whale Kenai Fjords Cruise Alaska
   
Humpback whale Kenai Fjords Cruise Alaska Humpback whale Kenai Fjords Cruise Alaska

She'd blow, surface and then dive and disappear for several minutes. And every once in a while she'd breach which was a big thrill.

Humpback whale breaching Kenai Fjords Cruise Alaska

They only allow the tour boats to stay with a particular whale or group of whales for 20 minutes. Then you have to move on. 

We got a closer view of the Godwin Glacier with a little sun break as we motored on.

Godwin Glacier Resurrection Bay Alaska

We motored along some steep cliff sides that had lots of small waterfalls coming straight down. The water really was that amazing emerald color.

Cliffs in Resurrection Bay Alaska

Up along the base of the cliff someone spotted mountain goats.

Mountain goats in Resurrection Bay Alaska

They hang out here because it keeps the kids safe since no predators can get down to the waterline like the goats can. The males and females both have horns.

Mountain goats in Resurrection Bay Alaska Mountain goats in Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
Then there were nice waterfalls.

Waterfalls in Resurrection Bay Alaska

We came around Cain's Head and got our first view of Bear Glacier which is one of the bigger glaciers feeding off of the Harding Ice Field in Kenai Fjords National Park. It used to be a tidewater glacier but it has retreated so that it now empties into a lake formed by a gravel it left behind.

Bear Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

As we motored along we attracted a group of Dall's porpoises who played in our bow wake. To photograph them you have to lean out over the side of the bow.

Dall's porpoises Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Dall's porpoises Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
Dall's porpoises Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska  

They like the break the surface and make waves too.

Dall's porpoises Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

We threaded our way through a group of islands out to Aialik Cape and a series of wonderful sea spires.

Sea Spires at Aialik Cape Alaska

Sea Spires at Aialik Cape Alaska

This was a pretty enough area that you'd think that they brought you out here just to see the sea spires but no, there are horned puffins here!

Horned Puffin Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Horned Puffin Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
Horned Puffin Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Horned Puffin Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
Horned Puffin Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Horned Puffins Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
Horned Puffins Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Horned Puffin Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
They don't make taking off look easy or graceful but once they're in the air they do just fine.

We got a couple more views of the sea spires as we left the area. I'm always amazed at Mother Nature's persistence in the form of trees and bushes that grow on pure rock.

Sea Spires at Aialik Cape Alaska Sea Spires at Aialik Cape Alaska
   
We went on past Pilot Island and they announced that they would be serving lunch soon. The day was getting downright gorgeous by this point.

Pilot Island Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

I turned around as the boat powered up and took this photo of Aialik Cape.

Aialik Cape Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

We were just settling down to wait for our turn for lunch when our captain spotted a group of humpback whales. At first all we spied was a blow and a bit of back.

Humpback Whale Aialik Bay Alaska

Then a blow and a bit of tail.

Humpback Whale Aialik Bay Alaska

Then they put on a great show where I got lots of tail shots.

Humpback Whale Aialik Bay Alaska Humpback Whale Aialik Bay Alaska
   
Humpback Whale Aialik Bay Alaska Humpback Whale Aialik Bay Alaska
   
Humpback Whale Aialik Bay Alaska Humpback Whale Aialik Bay Alaska
   
Humpback Whale Aialik Bay Alaska  

Then wonders of wonders they began to bubble-net fish. This is a cooperative behavior where they take big breathes and then as a group let go of the bubbles to net a school of fish and then they open their mouths as they surface and catch the fish. There's only one group of humpbacks in Kenai Fjords who do this and we lucked out and got to see them do their thing.

Humpback Whales Aialik Bay Alaska Humpback Whales Aialik Bay Alaska
   
Humpback Whales Aialik Bay Alaska  

Just when I thought that I'd get to have lunch we spotted a pod of orcas. They didn't do any gymnastics for us but we got to watch them for quite a while.

Orcas Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Orcas Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
Orcas Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Orcas Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

We also got a view of a small flock of Kittlizt's murrelets, a species that is about to be listed as endangered.

 Kittlizt's murrelet Kenai Fjords National Park

We finally got to eat lunch while we motored across Aialik Bay and down Holgate Arm. There were more waterfalls coming down the faces of the fjord.

Waterfall in Holgate Arm Alaska

Waterfalls in Holgate Arm Alaska

And then we began to get views of the Holgate Glacier.

Holgate Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

This is a true tidewater glacier in that it empties into the ocean which means Holgate Arm, the fjord that it has formed over the years. It is full of ice bergs.

Holgate Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

As you get closer to the glacier itself you can see Surprise Glacier, which is really just an arm of the Holgate Glacier. It's called Surprise because you can't see it until you get up pretty close to the main portion of the glacier and then surprise it's there on your left.

Surprise Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

The face of Holgate Glacier is really pretty spectacular.

Holgate Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

But the top is even better.

Holgate Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

There were seals lounging on the ice bergs in front of the glacier.

Seals at Holgate Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

I liked the Surprise Glacier so much I had Walter take a photo of me in front of it. As you can see, even with the sun out it was not warm! I had a winter hat on under my hood.

Sara Schurr Surprise Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

They fished some of the glacial ice out of the water and let people play with it. Here's Walter and a piece of it. Note the winter hat!

Walter Cooke at Holgate Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Walter Cooke with ice at Holgate Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
After spending a while here we got to see the glacier calve once (I didn't get a shot of it) and then we motored on back out of the fjord past more waterfalls and through a lot of ice.

Holgate Arm Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

We saw another sea otter out floating in amongst the ice. That just goes to show how effective their fur coats are.

Sea otter at Holgate Arm Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

We came out of Holgate Arm into Aialik Bay and headed north deep into the bay to see Aialik Glacier.

Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

As we got closer we spotted another group of sea otters. Some of them were getting pretty friendly...

Sea otters at Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Sea otters at Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
Sea otters at Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Sea otters at Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

The toe of Aialik Glacier is much bigger than Holgate's toe so it makes for a much more impressive view.

Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Here's a panorama shot that gives you a taste of the setting too.

Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Here's a close-up panorama of the face of the glacier.

Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

Not long after I took this shot I heard a loud cracking noise and I pointed my camera at the face and started clicking away.

Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

It was a quite a thrill both to experience and to get photos of.

Here's a piece of ice berg from a calving several days before. It was bigger than our boat.

Ice berg Aialik Glacier Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

After a nice long stay at Aialik Glacier we motored on back towards Seward. You'd think that at this point the cruise was about over, huh? But no, we had the Stellar Sea Lions (another endangered species) to visit.

Stellar Sea Lions Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska

A few of them were moving around but otherwise it was clearly naptime.

Stellar Sea Lions Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska Stellar Sea Lions Kenai Fjords National Park Alaska
   
From here we took off at a pretty good clip across the Harding Gateway to visit the birds at Barwell Island near Cape Resurrection on the east end of Resurrection Bay.

Motoring across Harding Gateway Alaska

There were huge numbers of common murres in the water.

Common Murres Resurrection Bay Alaska

In case you can't tell, they're diving birds.
 
Common Murres Resurrection Bay Alaska Common Murres Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
There were more Stellar Sea Lions out this way too along with nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes (on the rocks on the right).

Stellar Sea Lions Resurrection Bay Alaska

There were hundreds of kittiwakes and periodically they'd get stirred up and take off.

Black-legged Kittiwakes Resurrection Bay Alaska Black-legged Kittiwakes Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
Black-legged Kittiwakes Resurrection Bay Alaska  

The kittiwakes build their nests perched on tiny ledges on the rocks.

Nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes Resurrection Bay Alaska Nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
Nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes Resurrection Bay Alaska  

There were also more puffins in this area. In fact we got to see something rather unusual as there were puffins sitting way up on the cliff. According to the ranger, this was unusual since they're usually only seen in the water. I love the shot of the two of them peering out from the crack.

Horned Puffin Resurrection Bay Alaska Horned Puffin Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
Even better, I got a shot of a Tufted puffin--you can tell he's a tufted because of the cool feathers that wrap around his ears.

Tufted Puffin Resurrection Bay Alaska

At the end of this rocky section there were common murres nesting. They look like penguins when they're out of the water but they're not even closely related to them. It's just the white breast along with the black back and head that makes them look that way.

Common Murres Resurrection Bay Alaska Common Murres Resurrection Bay Alaska
   
Here's a closeup of a murre in the water.

Common Murre Resurrection Bay Alaska

From here we motored back to the marina in Seward, tired but very very happy.

In Part XXI we'll take you to the Alaska Sea Life Center and out to the Exit Glacier, the only part of Kenai Fjords National Park that you can drive to.