| Kenai Fjord National Park Tour
Alaska’s most popular wildlife and glacier cruise! Kenai Fjords National Park boasts abundant wildlife, alpine and tidewater glaciers and breathtaking scenery. Visit the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, home to a large variety of seabirds and stellar sea lions. 110 miles round trip. You will see: Resurrection Bay: Seward, Lowell Point, Caines Head, Calisto Head Harding Gateway Cheval Island, Pilot Rock, Aialik Cape, Chat Island, Three Hole Point, Aialik Glacier, Slate Island, Holgate Head, Harbor Island, Matushka Island, Chiswell Islands, Rugged Island, Hive Island, Fox Island The Kenai Fjords are DEEP. They were glacier-carved out of "pillow" basalt that was once at the bottom of the ocean. Alaska is on the "Ring of Fire" and that part of the Alaska coast is moving inland and gets pushed upward. (tectonic plate movements). |
 |
 |
 |
| The Alaska Dept
of Fish and Game says: The humpback whale (Megaptera
novaeangliae) is the baleen whale most frequently seen swimming or
feeding close to shore along the southern coast of Alaska. When beginning
to dive, animals often lift their flukes (tail) out of the water thereby
exposing the pattern of black and white which characterizes the ventral
side. This pattern varies with each whale and is used by biologists to
identify individual animals. Humpbacks may stay submerged for as long as
30 minutes although most dives do not last longer than 15 minutes. When
resting near the surface between dives, whales may blow every few seconds.
I got a couple of shots of just the tail - while it might be hard for you to see it in these pictures - it was truly amazing in person! |
|
 |
 |
| Orca
Whales: Because of their fierce reputation, killer whales are
sometimes called ballena asesina ("assassin whale") by
the Spanish. They were referred to as "whale killers" by
sailors who witnessed their attacks on larger cetaceans, an over time this
name was changed to "killer whales". They are called this
not because they harm humans but because they kill other whales.
Please visit http://www.pwssc.gen.ak.us/orcaproject/links.htm
for information on the Orca Whale Project.
We saw a group of 4 jump out of the water, several orcas swam around around boat and these two shots captured the fin. |
|
 |
 |
| The Alaska Dept of Fish and
Game says:
They are called sea lions because they resemble the terrestrial lion of Africa and Asia. Large adult male Steller's sea lions have disproportionately large necks and shoulders. This, coupled with longer, coarser hair on the neck and shoulders, gives them the appearance of having manes, as do lions.
|
 |
| The Alaska Dept
of Fish and Game says: Puffins, because of their large colorful
beaks and comical looks, are probably the most easily recognized and most
popular Alaska seabirds. Puffins have probably been depicted on more
tee-shirts, drinking cups, cards, and souvenir plates, been the subject of
more drawings and paintings, and been made into more stuffed toys than any
other Alaska bird except eagles and ravens.
We saw Seabird rookeries where they raise their young - right on the cliffs and rocks! There were cormorants and murres, Kittiwakes and Glaucous Gulls - as well as Horned and Tufted Puffins. Puffins would never come in from the ocean waters if they could figure how to build their nests on the water!! They love to swim and dive for the tiny fish they eat! |
|
 |
 |
| Aialik Glacier flows out of the Harding Ice Field
into Aialik Bay. The glacier is 3 miles wide and over 250 feet high above
tidewater, and is located within Kenai
Fjords National Park. Aialik Glacier is the largest and most active of
the three glaciers in the fjord.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The Alaska Dept
of Fish and Game says:
The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) lives in shallow water areas along the shores of the North Pacific. Its range once extended from southern California north then west through the Aleutian Islands, to the Kamchatka Peninsula, and south to the northern islands of Japan. In 1742, Vitus Bering's men returned with sea otter pelts from the historic voyage of discovery of Alaska. Interest in these rich furs initiated an era of exploitation which almost wiped out the sea otter. |
|
 |
 |
| Visit the Department of Fish and Game at http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/ | |