Day 64 of Our RV Journey to Canada & Alaska 7/15/14 - Traveled to Seward, Alaska & Went on Wildlife Cruise

This morning we left Country Boy RV Park in Ninilchik at 8:45.  It was kind of exciting to get moving again. The trip was uneventful, not too exciting but we are back in a lot of mountains.  We saw fisherman lined up along the edges of the River today in numerous places trying to catch salmon.  We did not have any animal sightings.  Total miles traveled was 138.

We are dry camping (no hookups) along the Resurrection Bay (city-owned campground) for at least two nights.  I love this place because we are right next to the water and today has been a absolutely gorgeous day.

After filling our tank with water, parking and setting up our RV, we gathered outside our RV at a picnic table along the bay.  I had prepared some chicken taco filling yesterday so I went in and heated it up and some taco shells, got the toppings for it ready and the four of us ate lunch outside and enjoyed the beautiful view.

These two pics of boats were taken right in front of our camper...I think they were looking at the sea otters

because they were stopped there for awhile and there were sea otters swimming around.

I could stay parked here for days on end...especially with weather like we had today.

After lunch Jesse & Ginger drove to the downtown area but Bob and I remained here to just chill and enjoy the scenery.  There are several sea otter swimming around and floating on their backs.  They are neat to watch.  Bob thinks he read that a sea otter is the only animal that uses a tool (such as a rock) to open up clams.  They do this by laying on their back with a rock in one claw and clam in the other claw---using the rock to open or break open the clam.

We talked to our neighbors for quite a while and then decided to walk up to the boat harbor which is a nice walk from our RV.  As we passed Jesse & Ginger's RV which is maybe 8 sites down from us, they were getting our of their truck.  They had in hand some information on some things to do in Seward.  One of the things to do, was a 4 hour Kenai Fjords Wildlife & Glacier Cruise (Major Marine Tours).  We, both, had purchased a 2014 Alaska Tour Saver coupon book from Amazon before taking this trip as it has a lot of 2 for 1 Vouchers, etc. in it that saves tourists quite a bit of money.  We had a Voucher in our book for this cruise...total cost with meal for a couple was $108.36.  We decided to go to it so Ginger called to make reservations and get details.  The Cruise departs at 6:00 pm today and we should go to the ticket office around 5:15 to purchase our tickets.  It was decided to leave our sites at 5:05.

Bob and I finished our walk to the boat harbor and back.

 

 

We had a little time to spare so I got ready and Bob was checking out our inverter that he doesn't think is working.   We purchased a inverter to use to run our deep freezer on while not connected to electricity & evidently it is not working, so that is a "problem". We will be okay here because we can run the generator except from the hours of 11:00 pm to 7:00  am., but we will have to do some more checking tomorrow.

We went on the 4 Hour Cruise and for the money ($54.18) it was a great deal and we enjoyed it.  The meal was all you can eat Salmon & Prime Rib buffet, salad, rice, bread & soft drink...and it was good.    They even served desert of fruit, cheesecake, & brownies during the return to the harbor.  The cruise was narrated by a National Park Ranger.  He pointed out wildlife sightings, and told us interesting facts of the surroundings. They cruised us down one side of Resurrection Bay and into the Gulf of Alaska around some islands then they made the loop by cruising down the other side of Resurrection Bay until we made it back to the Seward boat harbor.  Resurrection Bay depth is 900 feet deep.

The best part of the cruise was the whale sighting.  A hump back whale was spotted and when the tour boat got close to the whale, they shut off the motor so everyone could watch it and take pictures.  It blowed and came out of the water several times.  It was awesome seeing it and we were fairly close to it.

The following picture is of one time when the whale came out of the water.  I just kept snapping pictures.

We also saw sea lions swimming along the shoreline and resting on rocky cliffs, sea otters, dolphins, harbor seals, bald eagles, mountain goats & a kid, puffins, all kinds of different seabirds, glaciers, old bunkers from World War II, whats left of piers where buildings were from the earthquake of 1964, etc.  I would recommend this cruise; well worth the money!!

remains of piers from the earthquake of 1964

 

 bald eagle

Glaciers

mountain view from Resurrection Bay 

mountain goat and kid

 cabin secluded from other people

World War II bunker 

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another tour boat ... the area this boat was just floating was just filled with millions of birds...and that was all you could hear...reminded us of the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds"

sea lions

colony of kittiwakes (birds)---they use cliffs to nest to protect against predators

 

 another World War II bunker

Puffin...most popular bird species in the North Pacific.  They gorge themselves on small fish, often making it almost impossible for them to take off & fly....(little piggies)

Today was very enjoyable!!  Looking forward to tomorrow.

Hope your day was enjoyable as well!!

Adm. $108.36 Cab/

jl