Delightful Day Cruising Resurrection Bay and Hiking in Kenai Fjords National Park

Julie picked Tuesday afternoon for our boat tour of Resurrection Bay because it would be our second full day in Anchorage.

As it turned out, rain forecasts on surrounding days resulted in Tuesday selling out, which became an issue when our granddaughter Emma opted to join her dad, Julie and me for the excursion.

Laszlo offered to step aside and do a long hike on the Kenai Peninsula instead.

This was particularly gracious considering he drove us all to Seward in our rental car.

Laszlo on his beautiful glacier hike, which was also wonderful.

After checking out the dock area where our tour would begin, we doubled back to a grocery store to buy picnic supplies to fit our individual tastes.  Julie had chicken pasta salad from the deli.  I was happy to find fresh California rolls there.  Laszlo and Emma picked healthy foods they would eat at home.  We proceed back to the dock where we snagged an open table and chairs for the feast.

After restroom stops, we boarded our boat for the 4 1/2-hour tour cruise of Resurrection Bay

An announcer provided occasional commentary to tell us what we were seeing, even if sometimes passengers talked over him, making his words inaudible.  Despite being sold out, however, the boat did not feel at all crowded.  Our fellow passengers were simply a friendly bunch with comments of their own.

The mist in the air following so many days of sunshine created a magical feel.

We were happy we brought jackets but never became cold.

What a wonderful tour that turned out to be!

We saw Bald Eagles soaring and standing by huge nests with eaglets inside.

I circled the Eagle for emphasis in my photo.

Lots of Puffins --- both Horned and Tufted --- could be easily seen flying and skimming the water nearby, and easier to differentiate than they had been along Iceland's coastal shores.

Black-legged Kittiwakes (seagulls), Pigeon Guillemot (black and white pigeons with orange feet), Cormorants (slender necks and wide wingspans) and Oystercatchers could also be spotted.

As penguin lovers, a highlight for us was a cliff full of Common Murres.  These tuxedoed birds look very much like penguins, but unlike penguins, these northern hemisphere cousins still have the ability to fly.

Murres dive deep into the water to fish, but not as deep as penguins.  Common Murres have short, stubbier bills than penguins, but they are related to Auks.  The Great Auk was the last of the penguins that inhabited the northern hemisphere.  If I had seen Murres on that cliffside without being told differently, I would have believed them to be penguins.

Otters playfully swam around (Julie's short video linked here.

Harbor Seals and Steller Sea Lions put on shows of their own during their moments "on the stage" of our narrator's focus.

A Humpback Whale swan by the cliffside and nearby outcroppings.  The captain first spotted the whale and stayed with it a long time, repositioning the boat to give us the best opportunity to spot it reemerge after dives to catch more fish.

Humpback Whale is inside gold marking.

Frankly, our wildlife photos taken sporadically from iPhones are much less impressive than what you can find in a travel magazine or brochure.  While not having dedicated cameras with telephoto lenses may be part of the reason, primarily we don't want to sacrifice the experience for the perfect photo.

I confess to assuming Julie would snap better photos and didn't even have my phone handy sometimes, such as when the humpback breached the water several times in the half hour or so that we watched him.

We cruised among fjords and took in scenic panoramas from the bay.  The beauty speaks for itself, though again, glossy professional photos capture images better.

One noteworthy site is a spit of land with dead, gray trees.

Dead-trees spit of land in foreground with forest climbing hillside behind

The narrator on the P.A. system said this was caused by the 27-foot waves in the aftermath of a 9.2 earthquake on March 27, 1964.  A "wall of water" engulfed Seward.

When the water receded, the trees were dead.

All the while, a personable crew answered any questions when they passed through performing their sundry tasks.

At about 2 PM, the crew served a promised lunch.  Having been fooled into believing such promises before, we of course had already eaten our self-catered meals on shore.  As it turned out, the burritos served smelled delicious.  We kept all of ours and enjoyed them for dinner after rejoining Laszlo.  We ate the side dishes of tortilla chips and salsa in lieu of our usual 3 PM popcorn back home.

Later, hot chocolate chip cookies were served by the crew.  Julie and I ate ours, and we saved Emma's to give to her dad.  Very tasty.

As we walked off, extra cookies were available, and I took one of those, too.

Some people actually live on this beautiful bay, with only boat access.

When we came ashore, Laszlo was waiting for us with a big smile on his face.

He had a great day too, hiking along the Harding Icefield Trail all the way to Marmot Meadows.

We all headed there next for the Glacier View Loop and Glacier Overlook Trails, a shorter version of Laszlo's trek that brought us to views of the glacier.

Like we had seen on the Briksdal Glacier Trail in Olden, Norway, along the way are signposts marking dates when the glacier had once reached particular points.  The glaciers have definitely continued to retreat over recent decades.

Many believe this to be primarily human induced, but rationally I will point out that the earth has had many cycles of heating and cooling.  We're still rebounding from the Little Ice Age.

More controversially, I will point out that based on ice core evidence, CO2 increases in the atmosphere about 700 years after warming of the globe, not the reverse like VP Al Gore says.

As I've often said, climate change can be beautiful.

Kenai Peninsula was gorgeous in its current state when we visited in the Summer of 2025.  You should go see it for yourself.

Laszlo navigated the roads for the long drive back so calmly and confidently that I nodded off despite wanting to be awake to see the beautiful scenery along the road we took in on the drive to Seward, including lily pads on a placid pond of which Julie snapped a photo.

I should note that instead of renting a car to drive, we could have taken the scenic train ride to Seward to spend a day or two.

That would be a wonderful activity for anyone who flies to or from Anchorage to begin a cruise.

Delightful day in a very beautiful part of the God's creation!

We do wish Gina had joined us, but the first of July had been pre-planned as a day for her to work remotely, attending a Zoom hybrid meeting to welcome her school's new President. 

More of Julie's Photos

Viking Cruises makes very near where we boarded our tour boat,

Still unclear how the boat tour would unfold from the mist.

A smaller boat was also whale watching.

He was breaching right there! --- but now he's gone.

Puffins

More of Wes's Photos

A short video of an Otter Swimming by Shore Linked Here

Princess and Holland America can bring guests to Seward.

Mosquitos can result in funny poses.

My phone, but Julie took the photo.

Hard to believe 2005 was 20 years ago!

There's an eagle's nest near the top of the tree in this pic's center.
We stopped so Laszlo could eat his burrito before driving home.

Laszlo's Other Photos