Kenai Fjords National Park

Today we took a six hour trip on this catamaran through the Kenai Fjords National Park.  At our starting point in the harbour at Seward there were some hints of blue sky in one direction  but also mist and rain so we were not too optimistic.

We were warmly dressed, dosed up with sea-sickness pills 'just in case' and had a full range of waterproof gear with us.

Our trip was billed as 'Wildlife and Glaciers' and we were not disappointed.. David took this photo of a Bald Eagle as we left the harbour, quickly followed by photos of sea otters.

It wasn't long - still in Resurrection Bay where the port of Seward lies - that we were treated to this amazing sight..

A huge Humpback Whale breaching.    Again these are David's photos.

The sky had mostly cleared by this time and we were able to spend much of the time out on deck - although it was rather breezy and choppy so it was necessary to be firmly anchored.

As we moved out of the bay into the open sea, new ranges of mountains and their glaciers came into view..

On board was a National Park Ranger and some enthusiastic wildlife photographers..

The glaciers were spectacular, especially with the sunshine to illuminate the ice and bring out the blue colours.

It was an amazing trip and we have so many photos!  Will share some more tomorrow.

Alaska Railroad - Anchorage to Seward

We joined our train in Anchorage this morning at 6.30am to travel to Seward.

The 'dome' style two storey carriage was great for viewing the scenery, as was the open area at the back of each carriage.

Breakfast was served in the downstairs dining car as we passed along Turnagain Arm - alongside the road that we travelled  yesterday to visit Portage.

Views across Turnagain Arm varied with the light.  A little more sunshine would have been good!

Nonetheless the light was quite beautiful in places and the views were spectacular.

The Chugach Mountains on the other side of the inlet were more visible than yesterday.

We watched for bald eagles through this area and were eventually rewarded with some sightings.

Here are two eagles in the distance in a tree - with a glacier on the mountain behind..

David managed to capture a closer photo..

As we moved away from the road and into mountain areas only accessible by train, the scenery became more dramatic and we started to see a little more light in the sky.

We had great views of huge glaciers as the train wound around the hillside.

The reflections of the mountains in the surface of Kenai Lake were very beautiful..

Arriving in Seward after a little over four hours, we walked along the edge of the water  to stretch our legs.

Many different boats were coming and going - this is a major port for cruise ships from Seattle and Vancouver as well as day trips into the Kenai National Park Fjords.

This plant is Fireweed - the state flower of Alaska which can be seen growing along the roads and railway and features in most pictures of Alaska in summer.  It added a little colour to this afternoon's rather grey landscape.

Portage Glacier

After a quiet (and wet) morning in Anchorage, we joined a group of people on a bus trip to visit the Portage Lake and Glacier.  We drove there along Turnagain Arm, one of the two 'arms' of Cook Inlet, part of the Pacific Ocean.

It was all rather more grey than we hoped and when we turned off the road to head to the lake, the cloud was unfortunately increasing.

Our boat to go to the glacier was ThePtarmigan..

 

Portage Lake is large and deep, surrounded by mountains.  It is hard to believe but sadly true, that 100 years ago the lake did not exist - the glacier filled the entire valley.  It has retreated amazingly quickly.

We were privileged to be taken very close to the face of the glacier.

Despite the lack of sunshine (in fact it was pouring with rain), it was surprising how blue the ice was deep inside the glacier - an effect caused by the way that the light falls on the ice and on the particles of glacial silt suspended in the ice which block and refract the light.

We felt very privileged to be able to view the glacier from such a close viewpoint.