Day 38 -- Continuing from Anchorage to Seward and Kenai Fjords NP boat cruise

Travel   From: Anchorage, AK   To: Seward, AK   Distance: 192 mi (309 km)   Travel time w/brks: 3 hr 20   Distance since start: 8,312 mi (13,366 km)

Friday 7/28/2006

Street Atlas USA was very conservative in its estimate for the trip from Anchorage down to Seward. It suggested that it would take 4 1/2 hours. Not sure about the road, we left around 6AM. Our boat trip left at 11:45, but they wanted everyone down there by 10:45AM. We first had to get down there and then onto the boat. The trip down was beautiful with lots of things to see. It is clear that we should come back here some day and stay for the day along the many turnouts. At one point we saw the tide race in. It was a 3ft wave coming through one of the Fjords. Quite impressive.

Along the road from Anchorage to Seward

As it turns out, the ride down to Seward took no longer than our gut feel said it would: about three hours. They had a major road construction underway as we approached town. Our temporarily clean truck and trailer got really dirty again.. We raced down to our campground at Millers Landing, but the site reserved for us was not yet available and because their campground was so full (and tight) they had no practical place for us to unhitch the trailer. So we turned around and went back into town. We thought it would be a good idea to take care of the flat truck tire and looked up their local tire repair-man. Of course, this was along the one section of town that was undergoing major road repairs. But we managed to get the trailer through the narrow turns. We also used this as an opportunity to refill one of our propane bottles.

Getting our flat truck-spare fixed in Seward

We looked for parking in town and found a for-pay area near where the small boat harbor that was big enough to accommodate RVs. It only cost us $5 for the day, which was a reasonable deal. We hurried down to the office for the boat tour company we were going out with.

Small boat harbor in Seward just before our departure on a day cruise of Kenai Fjords NP

One of the positive things with the day was that the weather had turned sunny and that meant some possible great scenery on our boat trip. As part of boarding the ship a crew member took a digital picture of each group of passengers, including us. I was not too keen on the idea, but we all smiled. Although she took only one picture, it turned out great.

Family photo before our ride on the Kenai Star (Karl's East German army winter hat looks amusing)

As we pulled out of port, the ranger talked about a road race that is held each year in town based on a bar-bet many years ago. It calls for running from the base of town to the top of a mountain and then back down. You can see the trail they run in the picture below. As you can imagine the trail is steep. It takes you above the tree line as well.

Road race from base of Seward to top of mountain each year

It is hard to pull Lilli away from the wind of the ocean. We're still trying to imagine it is near 100F back in NH right now.

We saw a sea otter on our way out and made a few short stops as well. The Kenai Fjord Park Ranger spoke about the things we passed. It was quite informative. We eventually got to the bottom of the fjord to see a large glacier calving into the water. At first, it did not look that big. But as the boat got closer it was obvious it was quite large. We had paid extra for the all-you-can-eat buffet. The tables were served in numerical order and we were near the end of the list. On one hand this was good, since we had eaten well before going out on the trip. But it also meant our table came up as we approached the big glacier.

One of many beautiful glaciers in the fjord

The calving glacier we were going to look at

The wall of the glacier towers 500ft above the water

The views from inside the boat by our lunch table were quite good, too

The captain shut off the engines for about 1/2 hour while we got really close to the glacier. This allowed all of us to "hear" it. You could hear it creak and chunks of ice fell off, from time to time, with ensuing loud bangs at the heavy blocks slammed into the surface of the water. There was a steady current from the melting glacier that pushed us away from it. The captain had to get us closer a few times. You'd think the water next to the glacier would be nice and clear. Not so. The glacier brings with it tons of silt that gets dumped into the bay, making the water next to it murky at best. We continued to stay inside the boat for a while. Both me and Lilli had gotten a bit chilled from standing in the wind on deck. We saw more spectacular views from inside the boat as well.

More great views of the fjords (while Karl loads up on his 3rd serving of steak)

During the second part of the trip, there was a bigger emphasis on spotting wildlife. The captain did a skillful job navigating the ship while the park ranger talked. Karl was also working on all the questions he had to answer to become a junior park ranger.

Spotting a humpback whale and its baby

Harbor seals are enjoying the sun at the mouth of a fjord

A top Harbor seal enjoys a super spot on a rock by himself at the mouth of the fjord

The Captain skillfully keeps the boat very close to shore while Erik and Karl observes Puffins on the cliffs

Karl being sworn in as a Kenai Fjords Junior Park Ranger by an official Park Ranger

Who needs Instant Messaging and WiFi when you can build a straw-phone?

As we were returning from our trip we could see that the weather was changing. Clouds were "chasing" the boat back into port. What was a great view in port was now overcast. But the wind was much slower so it actually felt warmer outside. Perhaps we had tail wind?

Near the end of the trip, the crew posted paper prints of the photos they had taken of the various groups on the boat. The one of us looked really great. We eventually coughed up the $10 they asked for it. But I had other things in mind. Like one of our trips down to Myrtle Beach back in 1997, I wanted the JPEG (Negative back in 1997). The crew was very accommodating. But there was one problem: While they did use the same flash card as we used, there was no way to copy it. I offered to rush back to our truck to get our laptop. They said it was ok, but that they were shortly going to re-initialize the camera for tomorrow's tour. We got back into our truck/trailer and drove back to the congested and narrow area by their office. I then ran down, with the laptop, to the dock where the boat was parked. But it was gone! They had moved the boat to the other side of the port to fuel it. And, given that we were double parked, I did not want to stay much longer. We considered this photo a loss at this point. Nevertheless, I asked the woman back in their office if she could not arrange so that they delayed re-initializing their camera. She could not get hold of the crew on the boat, via phone or radio, but promised to ask.

We returned to the campground by about 8PM to park. Only then did we discover that the sites only had 15amp, nothing else. We had not yet filled up our tank. Tired, hungry and with weather darkening, I was on the verge of leaving the place for a "better" campground. After some thought, however, we decided to take our time and fill up our water tank at a nearby spigot, stay the night and then re-think things in the morning. Despite the weather, the view was quite amazing at our site.

Enjoying a warm dinner with a view from our campsite

Campground   Name: Millers Landing, Seward, AK   Our hookups: 15 amp   WiFi: Yes ($10 for the stay)   GSM service: No   TV Channels: Yes   Cost: tbd/night   Reservation mode: Phone

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All Pictures (c) 2006 Hamnqvist, Background features stray ice floating near the glaciers.