BrusselsGirl07

Thursday 24 July - Today we were booked to go on the full day Kenai Fjords tour with Alaska Saltwater Lodge from 8am to 5pm http://www.alaskasaltwaterlodge.com/alaska_whale_watching.htm.

We were so lucky with the weather and had a beautiful sunny day again! There were times during the day that it was cloudy, but the sea was calm and the temperature was comfortable. We went down to breakfast and Marsha made us pancakes with maple syrup and home made honey orange syrup, as well as serving omelettes and smoked salmon. There was also fruit and juice, and tea and coffee.

At 7.30am we walked down to the port area of Seward which took about 25 minutes. We met at the assigned place, a bakery, and a company rep took us to meet our boat and Captain Jim. There was the 4 of us and a couple from Sweden, so a nice small group. We sailed into Resurrection Bay, into the Gulf of Alaska, up into Aialik Bay, into Holgate Arm, up to Holgate Glacier and back again. We spent a lot of time in the open ocean, but we did pass close to rocky outcrops where we saw Stellar Sealions, Harbour Seals, Eagles, Rhinoceros Auklets and Puffins nesting and swimming, and even a Mountain Goat! We watched some Humpback Whales diving in the water, and we also saw Fin Whales and later another few Humpbacks. It was great to see these animals in the wild. We had quite a few Dall Porpoise zooming along next to our boat and jumping out of the water.

We walked past the fire department on the way to the dock

A husky carving

At the dock, leaving on our adventure

A mountain goat we saw from the boat

Your pictures and storytelling are wonderful. Thanks for the opportunity to reminisce and for helpful ideas for planning our next trip to Alaska.

Randy

Thank you! Glad it is helpful and I am not just wasting time! It is nice to get the feedback. Yvette :)

AryMay, that is interesting! I was sure that the website said only 2 couples would be in the B&B at the same time. I think Marsha heard us discussing it, as she later bought it up and clarified that if she had two couples that did not know each other, she would have one upstairs and one downstairs. But if there were 2 couples travelling together, she would put them upstairs to share a bathroom, and then be free to have another couple stay in the downstairs bedroom and bathroom.

In the end it did not matter, we worked out timings for showers, but the toilet being in the same room as the bathroom could be a problem if the other couple were using the bathroom to shower, and you needed to use the toilet!

We had a lovely stay, and great breakfasts. Maybe we should have said something and they could change the description on their website.

Ben, glad you are enjoying the review. Certainly, use any information I post to plan your next trip. Sorry we missed you on board. Yvette

On our last cruise we had select dining. We did not make any reservations and turned up when we were ready.Sometimes there was no wait all all, and sometimes we had to wait up to 30 minutes - in those cases they gave us a beeper.

We have sailed in Aqua, and never had to wait for a table, not matter what time we went we were always seated right away.

Our day with Sharman had come to an end, and she dropped us into Seward at the ‘A Sunshine House’ B&B which is opposite the multicoloured tiled library. Marsha Gustkey met us at the front door along with Butch the Cocker Spaniel. We had two rooms upstairs which shared a bathroom. I actually thought that we would have a bathroom each, but this was a misunderstanding on my part. But it worked out fine, and we were only there for 2 nights. The rooms were cosy and the beds were comfortable. Marsha is a quilter, and has beautiful handmade quilts on the beds and also on the chairs in the living room downstairs.

We had not had lunch, and it was around 4pm, so we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at the Seward Brewing Company http://www.sewardbrewery.com/home. The boys went straight to the restaurant/brewery, and Nancy and I had a look around at some of the shops first. We found one with Russian hand carved and hand painted figurines, mostly Santas and animals. The one that I liked was of a curved Salmon with a mother and baby bear sitting on it. I ended up buying the carving the next day. We looked in the quilting shop, and then joined the boys for our early dinner. The meal was probably my least favourite of the trip so far, but I did have my first root beer float, and that was delicious. And Bill got to try more kinds of Alaskan beer!

The B&B, very comfortable and yummy breakfasts!

The Seward Library

After the ride, we were able to play with some puppies. Then we went into a shed and heard about the requirements of the Iditarod, how it was organised, how much food and equipment you need, the type of clothes required, and information about the sleds. I tried on one of the coats and it would be incredibly warm. The storyteller from before told us more tales from past Idiarods - he really was very good at story telling!

Our next stop was the Seavey’s Ididaride Sled Dog Tours. http://www.ididaride.com I was not sure what this would be like, and was worried it would be like a puppy mill, but it ended up being really interesting. The dogs seemed healthy and well cared for and genuinely excited to be hitched to a cart and go for a run.

A man who had completed the Iditarod race, and was an extremely good story teller, kept us captivated with the story of the Ididarod and the Seavey’s. We then went into the dog yard and met one of the dogs and heard about what is needed to make a good sled dog.

The dogs were all so excited to be picked to go on a run. 15 were hooked up to a harness, with lots of barking and jumping, and 7 adult tourists were loaded into the cart and off we went for a ride through the forest. Our guide was a young man who knew every dog's name on our cart. He was preparing to compete in the Junior Iditarod race.

The 'toe' of the glacier:

All of the crushed rock around the glacier is from when it was much bigger and heavier and crushed the rock as it advanced. Now that it is receding, this is what is left behind.

Our next stop was at Exit Glacier, which comes off the Harding Icefield. http://www.nps.gov/kefj/planyourvisit/exit-glacier.htm We stopped at a lookout to see the glacier.

We then went to the visitor’s centre where we saw the funniest sign about what to do if a bear attacks - if it is a black bear, you should fight back. If a Grizzly attacks, you should play dead. But if it starts to eat you, fight back!

Luckily we did not need to use this advice during our trip to Alaska!

We walked along the path to the Glacier. They had year markers along the track showing where the glacier used to be. It is rapidly receding. You can’t get close to the glacier anymore, and it was the smallest one we saw of all of the glaciers. It is really interesting seeing the ground up valley that was left behind as the glacier receded.

On the hike to the glacier.

The path of the receding glacier.

We loved our stay in Whittier. I could not imagine a more perfect day than the one we had sailing out on Prince William Sound. I know we were really lucky with the weather, but if you have the chance, go to the Lazy Otter Cafe and do one of their tours, and visit Varley's Swiftwater Seafood Cafe and the Fudge Shop!

I really wanted this bench!

At 8.45am We were picked up by Salmon Berry Tours for our transfer to Seward, and we had Sharman again!

We said goodbye to Whittier and went through the tunnel. After a while we stopped for a bathroom break at a very cute log cabin. Unfortunately, the bathrooms were unavailable, but we got coffee, and Rod got a piece of home made berry pie. We stopped at a park on the Kenai River a little way down the road and used the rustic bathroom there. The place we stopped at was very pretty, with a salmon run and a platform where you could stand to see them. It was a little early for salmon in the area though, and we just read the information signs that were by the path. For every 400 baby salmon released into the river, only 100 make it to the sea, 6 will return to the river as adults and only 2 will survive long enough to spawn!

Wednesday 23 July - We woke up early to a completely different town! At 6am it was dark and grey and pouring with rain. The Island Princess was docked next to our hotel, and totally dwarfed the little town! People were getting off and straight onto a train. We could not believe the change from our brilliant bright and sunny day the day before.

It cleared a little later on and we walked to the Lazy Otter Cafe for a last coffee and breakfast in Whittier. I took more photos of the cruise ship as it looked so big!

Such a change from my photo from the morning before!

The ship dwarfing our hotel.

Cassiecruiser, no problem, hope the review helps your planning!

Seeingtheworldbysea - thank you, sorry you were not pleased with your photos. I love your idea about the stained glass! I will look into finding someone.

Tweety33, we really enjoyed the Millennium and had no problems with the ship at all.

After about an hour in front of the glacier, it was time to head back to Whittier. Captain Dale told us about the best place in town to get fish and chips, Varly’s Swiftwater Seafood Cafe. We headed there for dinner! http://www.swiftwaterseafoodcafe.com The owner of the cafe was behind the counter, and she greeted everyone who came in the door and took orders quickly. Her young son was waiting on the tables, and he was such a nice boy. The cafe was decorated like a fishing boat and had all sorts of prints and signs on the walls. They had some great stained glass panels. The fish and chips were delicious! We shared a serve of the Rhubarb Crisp - yum! Before we left, we took a photo with them.

We walked back to our hotel and I went into the fudge shop to get some more salted caramel fudge. Sadly, the last slice had been sold and they were all out. I bought a different kind, but the salted caramel was the best!! We finished the evening playing Farkle in our Townhouse Suite. Our friends had a good night’s sleep in their comfortable bed in their new room. Thank you to the management of the Inn at Whittier!

We sailed into Surprise Inlet and cut the engines in front of Surprise Glacier. It was such a beautiful glacier and very active. Sitting out on the back of the boat, with the sunshine pouring down, surrounded by the most amazing scenery and listening to the glacier creak and crack, and make thundering sounds, was just wonderful. The glacier was actively calving and it was such a thrill to watch these huge chunks of ice fall off the face of the glacier and into the water. Massive splashes of water would fly up into the air and waves would come along and rock the boat. There were very cute Harbour Seals and Sea Otters sitting on the fallen pieces of ice.

After 30 minutes alone at the glacier, another small boat came to look at the glacier as well, and stayed on after we had left. The very large Klondike Express also came up with lots of people on board and only stayed for a short time. We fished out a piece of glacier ice with a net to have a look at, and then threw it back overboard.

We left the open water and went into College Fjord, up Barry Arm and into Harriman Fjord. The scenery along the way was just magnificent! Mountains soared up from the water into the sky and glaciers came pouring down into the water, or were left hanging midway down. We passed lots and lots of adorable Sea Otters. I would have liked to get closer to them, but if we slowed down they dove under the water.

Captain Dale then took us to a little island and we were able to climb down a ladder at the bow of the boat onto the rocky beach. We had 20 minutes to explore the island before getting back on board. We saw a couple of whale blows and a whale tail as it dived, and we had Dall Porpoise swimming next to the boat.

We stopped to have a yummy lunch in Esther Passage. Bill took the wheel of the boat while Captain Dale got out lunch ready. We had lettuce, tomato and cheese, various sliced deli meats, bread rolls, smoked salmon spread, apples, chips, cookies and trail mix. We had views of Sea Otters swimming and mountains and glaciers while we ate.

We passed a rocky island covered in Steller Sea Lions, and stopped to watch them climb on the rocks and frolic in the water, and listen to them barking.

We passed a bigger rocky island covered in breeding Puffins! This was our first sighting of wild Puffins, and they were everywhere! Bobbing in the water, flying around in the air and flapping their adorable stubby wings while standing on the rocks.

In the cafe, we introduced ourselves and were met by Captain Dale. Our lunch was loaded up and off we went for a day on the water! We stopped very close to a waterfall with cliff walls covered by hundreds of nesting Kittiwakes. Can I just say again how magnificent the day was! It was warm, the sunshine was sparkling on the water, and the scenery was incredibly beautiful! We saw lots of Bald Eagles in the trees.

Whittier in the distance - you can see the glacier above the town!

Begich Towers and some of the school buildings

The Fireweed was so pretty!!

The owner of the Lazy Otter Cafe got this stained glass otter from Homer (I think that is where she said). I looked everywhere on my travels for one and could not find one to buy.

Tuesday 22 July 2014 - We woke up to bright sunshine and a stunningly beautiful morning!! Today we had a private all day tour out on Prince William Sound with Lazy Otter Tours http://www.lazyotter.com/prince-william-sound-custom-tour.html

Sadly, Rod and Nancy had a terrible night on the fold out sofa bed, and we felt very guilty for taking the real bed. Rod spoke to the Manager who arranged for them to sleep in another room at no extra charge for the next night. If you book the Townhouse Suite and there are 4 adults in your group, ensure you ask if the sofa bed has been replaced. It should not be advertised as a bed, as it is so uncomfortable!

Rod had gone out for an early walk, and Bill and I had the same idea and met up with him by the Begich Towers, an apartment building where nearly all of Whittier’s residents live. The school is right next door.

The small town of Whittier is dominated by two very large buildings. Begich Towers is one and the other is the unused, abandoned Buckner Building. It would cost too much to demolish the Buckner Building, so it sits and slowly decays. Both of these buildings were at one time the largest buildings in Alaska.

Behind the Begich Towers is a Glacier fed river, fed by the Whittier Glacier high on the Mountains behind the town, and this is where we met up with Rod (at the river, not high on the mountains!). We walked the short distance back to the port through the Whittier Walkway tunnel which had the most wonderful display of fireweed at the entrance and went to the Lazy Otter Cafe for coffee and breakfast. http://www.lazyotter.com/lazy-otter-cafe-whittier.html

Sunrise from our bedroom window

Walking through the pedestrian tunnel between Begich Towers and the port area

Begich Towers, Fireweed and a little glimpse of the waterfall behind

OK, photos sorted, if you can't see them, just close CC down and log back in and you should be all set! Just downloading some photos and I will add another part! Hope anyone reading is enjoying! Yvette :)

Sorry, the photos should be appearing and back to normal soon! Hoping to sort out my photo bucket account quickly! Yvette

AryMay, thanks for the kind words. You are right, I made a mistake. This was our first glacier, we go to Seward and Exit glacier next! Silly me!