Day 3 started with heavy rains and rough seas but in spite of a small craft advisory our tour company was headed out. We boarded the Kenai Star for an 8.5 hour wildlife and glacier cruise.
Before hitting extremely rough seas outside of Resurrection Bay we came upon a hump back whale. Hard to get great pictures when they don't make a big dive but that' s him stickin' out of the water with the mist from his blow hole.
I learned a few things on this trip. Alaska waters have jelly fish in them. I had no idea! This is a called a Lion Jelly because of it's orange color and mane like fringe with long tenticles.
This is a much more delicate jelly called a Moon Jelly. When found in large groups the water will actually glow slightly green from the birefringence. Very graceful little critter...
A little cove marking our return to calm waters after Brenda and I hurled in our little barf bags out on the ocean. Sea sickness is not fun!
Our destination for the day was Aialik Glacier. What a beautiful piece of nature. The pictures do not do it justice. Standing on the bow of the boat listening to it calf and crash into the water was amazing and has been a life long dream of mine. Truly amazing!
Debris from Aialik Glacier's calfing into the water
The peak of the central high point.
The colors within the ice are amazing too. Not a lot of words to describe all this!
Stellar sea lions taking a break from the rough waters to dry themselves on a rock.
They are very funny creatures on land but really do have the ability to climb about those sheer rock walls to hang out above the surf.
Home sweet home...We spent the two nights in Seward, AK at the Van Gilder Hotel. One of the original historic buildings in town down. Even they weren't safe from the rain...the third floor had a bit of rain damage our first night and we got moved to the second. Both rooms were very victorian and very cozy. Would stay again for sure!
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