EMED2010

Sunday, August 16, 2015 – Cooper Landing

We woke up early this morning because we had a full day of fishing on the Kenai River with Kenai Float ‘n Fish. I chose them due to one of my favorite reviews here on CC by WalleyeLJ. If you haven’t read his two Alaska reviews you are missing something special. His pictures are awesome. Anyway, the young couple that provide the fishing trips are John and Heather and they are the nicest couple. Heather does all the paperwork and picks us and the boat up at the end since we “float” downriver. When I spoke with Heather and booked, I asked if she recommended any places to stay and she mentioned The Hutch which was right next store. I looked it up on Trip Advisor and it looked good so we booked it. If was very convenient to just walk next door.

The Hutch has a continental breakfast set up in their office so Doug ran down and got some breakfast. I ate a granola bar and while I was dressing, Jennifer came with the bad news that Kenny would not be joining us. He had been sick all night. We believe he may have had some food poisoning from the sandwich he had eaten on the fishing trip the prior day. She got him some medicine and the three of us walked over to get our boat. And of course, it was RAINING! All pictures on this excursion were taken with the Nikon Tough which I again thanking myself for buying before this trip. It really came in handy in all the wet weather. I wasn’t worried about getting too wet today since John was providing waders. He also gave us extra raingear to wear over our own if we wanted. I took him up on that too. Between the overalls, the extra rain jacket and the float vest, I felt like a toddler must feel when the parent puts them in a bulky snow suit.

So a little bit about this trip for those that might not know what it is. We use a motorless boat that John rows. We put the boat in at the mouth of Kenai Lake which is where the salmon are heading. There is a decent current where the lake flows into the river. We would put our poles in and drift a bit down the river. Then John would row us back up to the lake and we would do it all over again. He does this all day long, every day during summer. I don’t know how his arms don’t just fall off. Anyway, you fish like this for a while and then we would head to a different spot downstream and do it all over again. All the salmon we caught are catch and release only. We could have kept the trout but we chose not to since we had plenty from yesterday’s trip and we can fish trout at home. Even though the salmon we caught looked nice, they would not be as good to eat. We no sooner put our poles in the water when Jennifer got this!

I caught a small trout.

Then Doug and I caught a trout at the same time. Mine was huge but when they were putting his in the net with mine, they both got out so no picture. Yeah I know; the one that got away!

We went through an area with small rapids which was fun. There were a few of these areas along the way.

And in case inquiring minds need to know where the restroom facilities are, this is it.

Your pictures of the wildlife, as well as all your others, have been great. It is hard to get the timing right with animals and your orca pictures are very special. Thanks again. I enjoy when I see you have some new posts up ☺

 

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Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I'm so thrilled with the Orca pictures. I just couldn't believe I got them.

We took a taxi. since we were 11 people, the taxi dispatcher put us in a mini bus however, I learned afterwards that 2 taxis (they have 6 pax vans) would have been less expensive. They charged us 5$ per person X 11: 55$

 

For the return, we did take 2 taxis. Cost us 13.95 (plus tip) per cab.

 

You can take the bus. If it's a hot day, it might not be worth it. We had 1 person in a wheelchair and 3 70 year olds. A taxi was a better option for us. Here are the directions we were given by H2O

 

Bus #7 and 8 leave from the Dockyard and you can take either and get off in Somerset Village. From there you walk past the post office and along Mangrove Bay and you will eventually see a curve where you can continue left or go right. There you turn right towards the Public Wharf on Mangrove Bay and that's where we are located. The walk is approx. 10 minutes.

Thanks! We've ported in Bermdua twice and have rented scooters for transport. Next time I want to do H20 so we probably won't be renting the scooters. The taxis sound reasonable and much easier than the bus.

Thank you so much for this wonderful post with your cruise story and just the best pictures. We had our very first ever cruise in 2003 and it was Alaska. We revisited again in 2009, after getting th cruise bug with a few other cruise destinations in between then. We are in the midst of planning next year's cruise to Alaska, hopefully Vancouver to San Francisco.

Your posts and photos have got us signed sealed and delivered for sure.

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us all.

Regards Jean.

Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. I hope you have a great time on your cruise. Vancouver to San Francisco sounds great. I want to explore more of the Pacific Northwest. It's so beautiful!

Did you take a bus to H20?

I ordered DOD everyday on our recent Radiance cruise and never got a glass. I didn't ask either because I really didn't have the space but I never noticed anyone else having them either.

Thank you for your kind advice. I will start to my research right away. Enjoying your wonderful review. Your pictures are truly great!

 

 

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Thanks again! Good luck with your bookings.

We flew out of Newark on United. I booked early and had a non-stop to Vancouver which was great. A few months after I booked they changed it. We ended up flying out of Newark at 6:00AM landed in Chicago, changed planes and arrived in Vancouver around 11:30am their time. Luggage was dropped at Newark and we didn't see it until Vancouver.

Saturday, August 15, 2015 – Seward

When they got back, they told me that they had fished until noon. They were supposed to fish until 4:00 but with the engine failure, they had to stop and start the return process. The three of them all caught their limit of halibut and salmon but were unable to try for rockfish and cod. We were not offered any refund for the missed time. Had we not been in a hurry to get to Cooper Landing, I may have stopped at the office to inquire but we just let it go.

When Doug’s fish was filleted and cleaned up, it was about 25lb. We used the company that was right there J-Dock Seafood Co., to process our fish to ship home. The cost was $217 total which was for cutting into the portion size we wanted, vacuum packing, flash freezing, insurance and shipping next day. Since halibut in my store goes for $29.99/ lb., I thought it was well worth it.

STEP ONE: CATCH

STEP TWO: PROCESS

STEP THREE: EAT

After getting our fish taken care of, we stopped at Safeway for more supplies and then headed to Cooper Landing. We were staying two nights at The Hutch Bed & Breakfast. We arrived, checked in and went for dinner at Sackett’s Kenai Grill. They had homemade BBQ and pizza. It was fine. After that we went back and crashed. We had an early morning fishing on the Kenai River.

Saturday, August 15, 2015 – Seward

Our ranger announced that we had a humpback tale slapping. I witnessed it but did not get any pictures. I did get a fluke.

Then we went to Puffin rock and there were loads of the little cuties.

After the Puffins, we started heading back to Seward. When we got closer, I had a text from Doug. Their boat had experienced an engine failure (there were two engines) and they were limping back to shore. He said they would probably not get in until 6:00 or 6:30. At some point, he saw my boat go past theirs.

I would highly recommend Major Marine. This was a good time from beginning to end despite the rain. The ship was comfortable and even with 40 people on board you never felt crowded. There were two restrooms that were fairly large for a boat and very clean. The food was decent, nothing fancy, but good.

After we docked, I retrieved the rental from the hotel parking lot and moved it to the parking lot where the charters let off. I knew the fishermen would be tired. I wandered around and took pictures. Here is their boat coming in.

Saturday, August 15, 2015 – Seward

At some point during the cruise, they served lunch. We had ham and cheese sandwiches with lettuce in a baggy if you wanted it, granola bar, apple, cheddar cheese, drinks. It was nicely done. For dessert were the best brownies!

Puffin!

Saturday, August 15, 2015 – Seward

At one of the glaciers, one of the crew retrieved a piece of glacier ice. After they brought it inside, they cleaned it off and used the ice to make glacier margaritas. Of course I had to sample it.

Saturday, August 15, 2015 – Seward

We continued on and the beauty of this park just amazed me.

It was really raining out and pretty chilly by the glacier.

Sea Otters!

Saturday, August 15, 2015 – Seward

We had been cruising at least an hour and had not spotted any whales. I was a little discouraged even though we had seen plenty of humpbacks on the whale watch is ISP. At the top of my animal bucket list for this trip was: brown bear (not yet), sea otters (check), humpback whales (check) and Orcas. I knew the chances of seeing Orcas was slim but when I heard the ranger announce that Orcas were spotted I raced back outside with camera in hand. Mother and baby!

We were surrounded by a big pod of them. It was amazing how much taller their dorsal fins were than the humpbacks. And then I heard the ranger yell “Breach” and I proceeded to take the best pictures of my trip.

You cannot believe how thrilled I was and after that I was so relaxed. I mean, it’s hard to top a breaching Orca in the wild. I’ve seen them jump at Sea World but this was so far beyond that.

Saturday, August 15, 2015 – Seward

When originally planning this day, all four of us would have been going on a Kenai Fjords cruise. When I could not get halibut fishing in at Icy Straight Point, I had to move it to Seward. Halibut fishing was at the top of my DH’s list so I wanted to make sure he got to do it. However, I had been looking forward to doing the Kenai Fjords National Park cruise. I had the idea of the guys fishing and the girls doing the cruise but Jennifer loves to fish and really preferred to do that. I decided to drop out of the fishing and do the cruise on my own. As you read on, you’ll find I made a good choice.

There were two vendors to choose from: Major Marine and Kenai Fjords Tours. Both have excellent reviews on both Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor. I decided on Major Marine because I did not want to stop at the island for lunch. I preferred to continue cruising. I chose the 7 ½ hour cruise so I could see as much as possible. This put all of us returning around 5:30 which worked out well for our plans.

Doug and group had to meet at the fishing charter by 6:00AM and we were also checking out of the Breeze Inn. After we all returned, we would be driving to Cooper Landing to spend two nights. So Doug had to open up the van for Jennifer and Kenny to put all their stuff and bring me back the keys. I would be the last one to pack up the van and be the keeper of the keys.

I slept in a little and got up to shower and then went in search of coffee. Coffee is extremely popular in Alaska. There are little coffee stands everywhere so I found one across the street from where my tour would leave. I didn’t have to meet my tour until 9:15AM and it was only 8:00AM so I had plenty of time. The town was crowded because they were having a Salmon Derby going on which ended the next day. After my coffee, I wandered around the gift shops which were already open and then I checked in. And remember how nice and sunny it was yesterday? Today, not so much. It was a light, steady rain.

Here is the boat I would be on for the day.

You are assigned a table number on your ticket and I was very fortunate with the three people at my table. It was a mother and father from California who were visiting their 22 year old daughter and they were all camping at the campground in Seward. They were extremely nice people and made the whole day even more enjoyable. They had coffee and tea and cinnamon apple muffins for breakfast.

We started out and saw some eagles.

Then we moved on past a rock where a bunch of steller sea lions were lounging.

Even though it was rainy, the scenery was still gorgeous.

Love your pictures. Were they taken with a zoom lens or were you that close to the glaciers? Wow!

 

 

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Both. I used the zoom for real close ups so you could see the color but most of them I used my regular lens.

We were not officially weighed at Island Wings. I had supplied our weights online prior to the trip. Michelle sized us up and seated us where she wanted.

At Coastal Helicopters we were weighed right in their office.

Hello my Wife and I are enjoying your review. We cant wait to go next year.

Thanks! I hope you have a great time!

Thank you very much for posting such an interesting review of your wonderful cruise. The Ketchikan bear watching looks great. I am planning to take my family to cruise Alaska in 2016 and will seriously consider to make Island Wings tour my choice at Ketchikan. Look forward to your future updates on your land DIY trip. Many THANKS from Kang, a reader from China!

Thank you. If you are planning on Anan, which was my original trip, you should contact them now. They have a lottery for who gets permits as they only allow 60 per day. I do not know if they do the same for Traitors Cove which is where we ended up.

Truly great review and photos! We just booked a southbound cruise for next June so reading this just adds to my excitement. Thanks for taking the time to do the review.

Thank you! Glad you are enjoying it.

Friday, August 14, 2015 – Seward

After we got back, we called Jennifer and Kenny’s room to see if they were ready to go to dinner. We had decided on Chinook’s. It was a short walk. I took some pictures of the harbor.

I loved how everything was within walking distance. We put our names in and had to wait a bit. Finally we were seated and everyone ordered seafood. We had salmon, halibut and rockfish and all were delicious. This place wasn’t cheap but the food was good and the view incredible. We watched Radiance sail away taking other people on their adventures.

Friday, August 14, 2015 – Seward

Doug asked me if I would like to go to the Sea Life Center and of course I said yes. What a cute place. We had a good time watching the harbor seals. They were really friendly and one hopped over to me on its belly.

We were amazed by the Puffins. They looked like they are flying through the water when swimming. They also have the most amazing eyelashes.

They have a nice viewpoint for Resurrection Bay. It was really windy and it looked a little rough that day.

Friday, August 14, 2015 – Seward

We woke up to a bright and sunny day! I was excited to see Seward from the balcony. I fell in love with this town right away. It was so beautiful with the aqua colored water and mountains all around. I could see our hotel, The Breeze Inn, across the water.

We showered and packed our carryon and backpacks because we had put the two big suitcases out the night before. We went to Windjammers which was of course mobbed. Then we went to the theatre where we had to wait to leave. After leaving and grabbing our luggage, I found the Hertz counter. They shuttled us to the office where we had reserved a minivan for the week. I was worried about the luggage but we were able to fit four large suitcases and three wheeled carryon’s plus assorted backpacks with no problem.

We drove over to the Breeze Inn. We knew we couldn’t check in yet but we wanted to do our laundry since this was the only opportunity we had. We sat around the lobby while the washer and dryers did their thing. By then, everyone was hungry so we drove a few blocks into the main part of town and had lunch at the Seward Brewing Company which is near the Sea Life Center. It was a nice brew pub type place. Afterwards we over to Puffin Charters, where Doug, Jennifer and Kenny were leaving to go halibut fishing at 6:00AM, to see where they had to meet. After that we went to Safeway and picked up two Styrofoam coolers and some lunch items and a case of water. We had two days in a row of fishing and we needed to pack our own lunch.

By now the rooms were ready and we checked in. I had a perfect view of our ship.

I wanted to explore the area but Jennifer and Kenny wanted to rest. So Doug and I took off and drove over to Exit Glacier. I wanted to do the hike but we I felt we didn’t really have enough time and Doug is not a hiker so we took some pictures and left.

OH MY GOSH

Those calving glaciers is what I have waited almost 13 years to witness. My last Alaska cruise was in September of 2003. We couldn't see the glaciers because the channel had begun to freeze already and there were too many large icebergs. So my friend and I have booked 2 cruises with a tour in between. They are in may so I hope we don't have the same situation. I will probably cry when I see it.

Denise

 

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It was amazing! I hope you get to see it!

Thursday, August 13, 2015 – Hubbard Glacier/Sea Day

Because the sun was shining, there was a lot of calving going on. I could not believe just how loud it was, like a giant crack of thunder. I witness a huge piece calve off but missed the photo but I have several of the splash. The splash actually grew in size.

After wandering around for a couple hours outside, we grabbed some food from Windjammers and sat outside in the aft area as we left the glacier so we could continue to watch it.

We spent the remainder of the ship doing fun stuff. The guys played pool and golfed. Jennifer and I went to get pick out our ship pictures and then started getting our suitcases ready because we would be leaving tomorrow. We also picked up our WOW cards. We wanted to give them to our two favorite bartenders in Schooners, Hoonie and Putra. We had so many fun times with them with their jokes and puzzles. They always wanted to hear about our excursions and see the pictures.

We went to dinner then to the casino. Doug and I went to Schooner for one last drink and to say our final goodbyes to the guys. And then we sadly went to bed.

BUT…We have a whole other week in Alaska, so stay tuned! Upcoming, Sea Life Center, halibut fishing, Kenai Fjords, Salmon fishing, Alaska Wildlife Center, Independence Mine, Talkeetna and Denali.