Reflections of My Travel

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This morning, we did a short hike at Exit Glacier before our 15:00 cruise departure. We got to the cruise shop a little early to find a place to plug up our cameras and get charged a bit. When it was boarding time, we went down to the dock to find a large stellar sea lion frolicking about with some fish dinner right there at the docks. It was fun to watch, but hard to get on camera. When he was done feasting and departed for open waters, we boarded our boat and headed straight for a seat at the front. When we first pulled out from the dock, there were a lot of people sitting out there with us. As we started picking up speed and the wind was getting cold, the people started to disappear. When the cold rain started to join forces with the cold wind, we were the only two out on the front of the boat. It was very pleasant and we were happy that we had invested in some good rain gear. It was so pretty out there in the water with snow-capped mountains all around. We passed by several rookeries of puffins and other birds before spotting some whales. Now let me just say, this was by far the most exciting part of the whole trip. We just happened to run up on a momma and her calf, who was in a very playful mood. As we pulled up near them, they were slapping each other with their flippers. The captain informed us that this calf was making a big wave in the marine biology community around the area because it appeared to be a hybrid between a humpback (momma) and a right whale. It did not have a dorsal fin like it’s humpback momma. Anyhow, while we sat and watched, the whales got closer to the boat (a boat can only approach within a certain distance of whales but if the whales get closer to the boat, it doesn’t have to back away) and more playful. We saw plenty of tail and were able to snap just a few pictures before the rain got too bad. And that was the shame of it. After the rain had gotten too bad to have the cameras out in, the baby humpright performed three beautiful full breaches. It was the most spectacular sight. A once in a lifetime thing. And we were unable to get pictures or video. What a shame. But we do have it in our memory and it was the most thrilling moments. After all that playfulness, it must have been naptime; there was a synchronized terminal dive and that was all we saw of them. We continued on to Aialik Glacier where we sat a quarter of a mile away from it’s 2-mile wide face and watched house sized pebbles of ice calve off of it. The largest piece we saw calve (when glacial pieces break off and become icebergs, it is called calving) was roughly the size of a three story building and created a 20 foot wave. It was pretty spectacular. We were able to get lots of video there. The most remarkable thing about being in front of such a massive glacier is the sounds. It is the eeriest thing, sitting there looking at ice and hearing it move. It is constantly creaking and groaning and when it is getting ready to calve, you hear a distant rumble like thunder and then a splintering sound and then a loud grumble and crash as it detaches and falls into the sea. There’s just no explaining it and no video can fully do it justice. The other eerie thing was being in a boat and feeling and listening to it scraping over all of the icebergs hidden below the water. Immediately conjures thoughts of the last moments of the Titanic. We probably watched and listened to that glacier for a good 45 minutes before it was time to start heading back to Seward (we were about 75 miles out). On the way back, dinner was served and we went inside for the first time. OMG. Bad call. Turns out I don’t like being inside on a boat. I never actually got sick, but I’ve never felt so nauseously disquieted in all my life. Unfortunately, dinner was only being served inside at the tables. And I was hungry. It took me forever but I was able to eat most of my cold food. I was fairly okay if I was able to look out the window or door to the water. It was such a horribly strange sensation that I would prefer to never experience again. Next time I go out on any type of boat, I will have Dramamine with me. About halfway through my struggle to eat my decent, though cold, dinner, the captain announced that for anyone who cared, there were some Dall Porpoises off in the distance that were coming at us. He told us they would put on a show for us. Randal was the first one out so he got a lot of great video looking straight down from the bow of the boat. These animals look like tiny orcas, but the fun part is that they enjoy playing in the underwater wave that boats create. They rode that wave fast and fun, weaving back and forth in front of the bow of the boat. They must have frolicked for 15 minutes before getting tired of surfing and heading back out to more peaceful waters. They were so fun to watch. After that, we went back in and I finished what I could of my dinner and then we adjourned back to the non-sickening outside seats. It really was a wonderful cruise. When we got back to Seward, it was after 21:00 so we went to the grocery store and bought a half gallon of ice cream and headed for the beach. We sat in the car for a while watching the water and eating our ice cream. When we had our fill, we got drove to an area closer to town and walked out to the beach to join the myriad of people lining the beach awaiting the Fourth of July fireworks. I think they were supposed to start at midnight, but they waited until closer to 00:30 (I presume with the hope that it might get just a tad bit darker). It was fun waiting out there and talking with people. And seeing fireworks at 00:30 with so much daylight is certainly an experience, but all in all it was a pretty puny display. Everyone there was ooohing and ahhhing, but Randal and I were just looking at each other and asking, “is that all?”. But it was a good time and it was a nice celebration of the Fourth. When the “grand finale” was over, we went back to our car, ate a bit more ice cream, and called it a night.