We took a half-day ferry ride out of Seward to see Resurrection Bay and some of the fjords in the national park. The seas were high due to a storm that had been hanging around for the past couple days, but we chose to brave the bad weather for the chance to see cool wildlife.
There are a lot of boats in the harbor, and one big cruise ship. The tourism slows down in late summer, but Seward is still a fun town with great food.
Large glaciers hang in the valleys along the ocean.
The coastline had lots of involutions and caves where the waves had weathered it.
The seas were rougher than anything I had been on before. At first, that was kind of fun - like being on a roller coaster - but, inevitably, the constant lurching will get to your stomach.
Gulls everywhere.
Gulls everywhere.
We got close to a colony of wonderfully fat sea lions. They are very noisy, constantly grunting and barking at each other. We also saw many humpback whales, which apparently are abundant in the bay in August.
Puffins are so heavy they can hardly fly!
After an eventful boat ride we decided to stick to dry land and hike to Exit Glacier. It's very accessible from the road.
The glacier is apparently retreating 100 ft per year. The outwash is an elusive turquoise-blue.
With a little scrambling, we climbed right up to the ice. The glacier is one of many that pour from the enormous Harding Ice Field.
The juxtaposition between rainforest and ice was beautiful
Looking back down the Resurrection River you can see an opening of sunshine over the bay. The ocean weather was much better today than yesterday, when we took our ill-fated boat trip.
Mist and rain over the Resurrection River
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