That’s part of the reason I live here. Nature is a very present danger albeit a beautiful one. As long as you venture outside, you can usually see wildlife, some more frequent than others.
Abundant ravens, seagulls, salmon, crows, eagles, moose, caribou, squirrels, the wiley coyote, a cautious lynx, feisty and playful marten, the occasional black bear, the more reclusive brown bear (I’ve only ever observed two in my decade here) and the even more hidden wolf (which I’ve yet to see one, although I’ve seen their tracks and heard them howling).
Yesterday was our “end of year” field trip. We’ve still got a few weeks left but a little early celebration never hurt anyone.
Before we boarded we spent some time exploring around the docks.
The Sovereign, a City of Seward tender. Lil Mister observing the suspension and breaking system of these old railway cars.Giant puffin mural.Carved sea otter benches.A cool old padlock, somewhere there’s a key to this heart…Spray foam fixes everything!The three munchkins with Dean & I reflecting.He’s so adorable.
Major Marine Tours out of Seward took us out for a 4 hour tour. (Glad it wasn’t three and the weather wasn’t rough.)
Captain Marcelle navigated the “Kenai Fjords 360” throughout Resurrection Bay like a boss.
First thing we see after leaving port are Dall’s Porpoises swimming with our boat. They look like little baby Orcas. They were quite amusing swimming and jumping out of the water, crisscrossing in front of the bow.
Once we were underway the Capt put this nav map up for us to reference. It helped keep our bearings for sure.
Then we saw a bald eagle perched on an enormous rock. We spotted a sea otter in Thumb Cove.
After traveling past Fox Island we saw some Stellar Sea Lions sunning themselves on Mary’s Rock. Captain Marcelle was terrific for getting us excellent views of the wildlife. We had a beautiful day, sunshine, 41-45° air temp and no sea swell! Simply gorgeous spring day!
We cruised past Barwell Island on the east side of Resurrection Bay, which has some WW II era bunkers. Then the best thing happened, another vessel alerted us to a pod of three Orcas just two hours into our tour! What an awesome inspiring moment!
We also experienced a mirage, called fata morgana, of Montague Island. It made the island look like a plateau instead of the peaked mountain tops it has. Once we changed position and could look back at the Island you could once again see it’s peaks and valleys. So weird!
Besides the abundance of wildlife that we saw and learned a few facts about (did you know there were 10 types of Orcas worldwide and three types that frequent our Alaskan waters?) we also learned about history (WW II, Russian exploration, President Harding and the Good Friday Quake) and geology when we passed some unusual rock formations of pillow basalt. It was quite the learning experience!
Our route was the red one. It would be nice to take the blue one some day!
We peeked into Carol’s Cove to observe 6 Harbour Seals on our way back towards the west side of Resurrection Bay where we had a great view of Bear Glacier. Lil Bit was excited for this one, she really wanted to see the seals. It’s nice to see them elsewhere, than in our nets stealing our fish! Then we spotted two coastal mountain goats on the sheer face of the mountain side! And another Harbor Seal in the water along the Callisto Cliffs.
Lil Bit observing the Harbour Seals with binoculars.There were 6 seals sunning themselves.
Nearly 4 pm and our tour is about over, what a wonderful experience! I love seeing the rugged beauty and bounty of Alaska. And seeing landmarks like Cain’s Head which we’ve explored a couple of times on foot. I think Lil Bit counted 8 species in total that we spotted today. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! Little Mister was most comfortable on the bow feeling the wind rush through his hair. Thing 2 wasn’t in too many pics as he enjoyed the freedom of roaming about the boat at will.
I’m very grateful for the homeschooling resources we have with IDEA and the rich experiences we get to have thanks to their efforts. Trips like these would be out of reach for us without them.
Alaska has a lot of wildlife that we like to see, and we see frequently. Caribou are one of the critters that we rarely see here on the Kenai. We have a small herd, and occasionally see them from afar. This morning we were blessed with a special visit from a small herd right here crossing our property!! So cool!
Bull, checking me out.
The dog was barking and caught the bull’s attention, then he spotted me. He kept a watchful eye on me for a few minutes while I snapped some pics from up the drive.
A few young ones.
My photos are grainy, that ol’ bull wouldn’t let me get any closer. I didn’t get an accurate count but I think there were 8-9 altogether.
Crossing the drive, headed for the trees.
They crossed through our pit then headed off into the trees.
Hoof print.
I could safely follow along now, and the neighbor boys joined me as we went looking for them. We spotted their tracks headed into the trees…
Tracks up the embankment.
And then we spotted them through the trees before they disappeared.
Bye bye Bou!!
It was so awesome to get to see them so close. The kids got to look at them from the window, they crossed over not far from the house so the vantage point was good. I love Alaska. ❤
Part of the wonder of living here in Alaska is the wildlife. I enjoy seeing moose and eagles regularly. Once in a while I get to see a caribou or a bear. Today I added the wolf to the list of sighted animals. We were driving down the Kenai Spur Highway and saw a few cars pulled over to the side of the road, this usually means there’s something to look at. As we drove by I spotted the “something”, a lone wolf. I wish I had my camera handy at that moment. Once I got over the initial excitement of seeing my first wolf, I thought of my niece, she would be thrilled. 🙂 Now, seeing one a far off from the comfort of my truck is the ONLY way I care to see a wolf, thank you very much.
Alaska on my mind... 