Day 350. July 22, 2014. Kenai Fjords

LOCATION:  Seward, Alaska, in south central part of state

WEATHER:  Very nice. Sun. Highs in 60s

Today was a special treat.  We had reserved seats on a 6-hour boat ride into the Kenai Fjords.  We drove about 50 miles to Seward, a port town, to pick up the boat.  It is a lovely town and busy port.

We chose this particular tour as there was a National Park Ranger on board who described things as we sailed.  

At first, it was a bit choppy, and some people got sick.  Then it calmed down. We saw a lot of wildlife.....humpback whales, sea otters, sea lions, puffins, and then lots of orcas (killer whales) that put on a show by the boat, flapping their tales and jumping up in the air (breaching).  It was magnificent!  

Here are the sea lions.  We were so close that we could hear them grunting.....

 

Then, we stopped in front of a tremendous glacier that dropped down to the water.  We could see and hear it cracking.  Once in awhile, a large piece of ice would crack off, with a noise sounding like a rifle shot.  This is called calving.

There were thousands of small pieces of icebergs floating around.

One of the crew pulled out a piece.  Then, they made us margaritas with the glacier ice

They were a beautiful color.....

There was an optional all-you-can-eat salmon buffet on board.  We passed on that, for obvious salmon   overdose reasons.

We got back to the port about 6:00 PM.  We were lucky with the weather.  It was cool, standing on the deck, but we had our winter coats on.  

We had a beer at the Seward Brewery.  Someone said their food wasn't so great, so we ordered pizza to go from another place.  We brought it back to the camper and had a relaxing dinner.  Our friends Minnie and Daniel went on the evening cruise, so we won't see them until morning.