Stephanie and I woke up to the alarm at 7:15 AM, which was actually sleeping in a bit compared to the last few mornings. We got ready upstairs for our tour boat excursion called the 7.5 Hour Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise through Major Marine Tours, and went downstairs to get some coffee and bagels for breakfast. Here is a link to the Major Marine Tour Website showing all of the information for our tour, and there is a tab you can select to see the route map of our tour.
Ashley came out of their room and said they were not going on the excursion, they both felt really sick, so they had called and moved their tour to July 11. Now we were a little worried because they were both pretty sick, and we had been in the car with them for a long time yesterday driving from Homer. They needed to borrow our thermometer, apparently Bryan had a fever, and maybe Ashley too, not good.
We felt fine, so we got ready and left the cabin at about 8:20 AM. Ashley & Bryan wanted to have access to the car, so Bryan rode with us to town to the harbor where we needed to go to check in for the tour boat. We all wore masks in the car for the ride there.
We got dropped off and went inside to check in, then we waited for the boat to begin boarding at 9:00 AM. There were a lot of people coughing in the waiting area, so we headed outside. We did not know how the seating worked, we were not sure it if it was first come first served or assigned seating. We got a slip of paper with a bar code when we checked in, but there were no seat assignments on it.
Tour Boat In The Harbor
They started boarding tour boat in about ten minutes later. We were about 2/3’s of the way back in the line. We could see that they were assigning tables by number to people as the boarded the boat, the entrance to the boat was right below us on the pier, so now we knew how it worked. When we boarded, they told us we were at table 26, which was unfortunately, on the bottom deck. We were hoping to be on the middle deck so we could have better access to the open upper area on deck 3. They did tell us that these table were only our “home base”, we could go where ever we wanted during the tour, but could leave our gear at our assigned table, and also eat our deli sandwich lunch there later on.
The Spirit of Adventure Tour Boat
The only bad part was that we were right next to the coffee/tea serving area, and it blocked most of our view out the side windows. The only good thing was that apparently all four of us were originally assigned to this four person table, and no one else was seated with us. They suggested that we put our phones in Airplane Mode to keep from depleting the battery. They said that the cell signals are not very strong during the tour, and the phone will run the battery down searching for wi-fi and cell service. We did as instructed.
We had found a completely open table on the middle deck, and Stephanie went and asked about it about five minutes before we were schedule to leave the pier. There had been a few stragglers coming on board long after the assigned check in time, and apparently, Table 8, the open table, was for some very late arrivals. There was an Asian couple with two children who boarded at least five minutes after the departure time, apparently they were at the check-in desk, and the crew knew they were here, but not yet to the boarding ramp. Of course, when they arrived, we heard the deck hand say they were at “Table 8”, so we knew that moving upstairs was no longer an option for us.
The weather was not terrible, but it was overcast and about 48 degrees, with a forecast high of 52 degrees. The boat was a catamaran type, and was quite fast and stable, as well as smooth riding. There was a navigational chart on the TV near the front of the lower deck, and it showed our course and speed. Most of the time we were going 20 knots or better. The seas were not bad, it was really smooth in protected areas, but there were a couple of spots where it was choppy. There was a really nice viewing are on the bow that was accessable from our deck, and we used that a lot to see things when the captain stopped the boat for viewing various forms of sea life.
Our Cabin Along The Shore Seen From The Tour Boat
The worst part was that there was a group of people form India next to our table, and two of the men looked like they did not feel good at all, and one was constantly coughing, and of course, not wearing any masks or using his hand over his mouth.
There were actually a lot of people coughing on the boat for the entire day.
We passed by our cabin in Seward as we headed south in Resurrection Bay.
Sea Otter
Next, we stopped to see some sea otters and a bald eagle nest for our first nature stops, and then we headed to a fishing area some distance away. The Captain told us that they get reports from various fishing boats and other excursion boats to help find things for us to see, especially for whale sightings. We were headed to an area where Humpback Whales were feeding this morning.
Harbor Seals
Before we got to the whale area, we stopped to see some harbor seals perched on rocks, they were quite large, and it was amazing that they were so high up on the rocks. Maybe they had gotten there at high tide. The tide range is about 20 feet in total, and we were now close to low tide.
We finally arrived at the area where the whales had been sighted, and there were several boats there. There was a group of at least five Humpback Whales feeding together.
There were also a bunch of seagulls in the water, and we could use them to tell when the whales were about to surface, the seagulls would all fly to where they could see the whales coming to the surface. The whales were using bubbles to heard small bait fish into a circle, and all of the whales would come out at the surface at the same time in a circle. It was pretty spectacular.
Humpback Whales Feeding Together
Unfortunately, it had begin to rain some, and I had a really hard time keeping the rain off of my camera lens filter, I had to keep wiping it on my shirt. I missed several shots because the camera wanted to focus on the raindrops on the lens filter, and not the whales. Eventually, the rain stopped, and I was able to get some good photos of the whales feeding.
The Captain said that this only happens for a few weeks out of the year, when the whales feed in groups. In addition, he had said it had not been that long ago since this had first been documented to be happening, starting only a few years ago. These Humpback whales seemed to be much larger than the ones we had seen in Antarctica in February.
Humpback Whales
We watched the whales for about 40 minutes before they headed off. They seemed to feed in an area, then head some distance away, feed again, and move again. I guess they kept following the pods of baitfish as they moved.
The Capitan said we needed to get moving so we could go to see both of the glaciers we are visiting on this tour. We did make one more stop to see a white mountain goat on the side of the cliffs, he was moving and it was amazing that he did not fall off of the steep and rocky cliffs along the shoreline. The goat was by itself, we could not see any other goats around.
Mountain Goat on the Cliff Side
Next we headed to the first glacier, Holgate Glacier. As we headed to the glacier, they served us lunch. We had selected turkey sandwiches when we made our reservations, and they came with potato chips and a granola bar, as well as a fountain soda.
Lunch was pretty good and serving it was fairly well organized, they served by table number groups and started with the tables on the mid deck, then our deck. Luckily, we were done with our lunch as we approached the Holgate Glacier, and I was able to take some GoPro videos of our approach
Holgate Glacier
The glacier was fairly large, and you could only see the face of it when we got close. There was not a lot of ice in the water near the base of this glacier, and a lot of the face was above a beach, not directly over the water, at least not at this lower tide.
We did not hear a lot of glacial crackling activity, and did not see any calving of the glacier face, maybe one really small piece fell off. There were several kayak groups near this glacier, it seemed pretty safe since most of the ice would not fall directly into the water and cause large waves, which would be bad for kayakers. We stayed here about 30 minutes and then headed to the larger Aialik Glacier.
Aialik Glacier
The Aialik glacier was much larger and higher than the Holgate Glacier, and there was much more ice floating in the water in the bay so that must mean it is more active shedding ice through calving.
The Captain eased the boat up up fairly close, he was trying to avoid the bigger floating ice, but we could still hear some of the ice hitting the steel hull as we proceeded nearer to the face. More of this glacier is over the water, so if any ice calves off, it will fall directly into the water.
Aialik Glacier Calving
It was amazing how many harbor seals were just laying on the small icebergs near the face of the glacier. I did not have the longer zoom lens on my camera, so I did not get many pictures of the seals up close on the ice. I needed the wider angle lens to get the entire width of the glacier onto the frame. We heard much more cracking noises on this glacier and saw several small pieces fall off into the water. We saw several pieces fall off near a huge ice spike on the face of the glacier, and commented that that would be spectacular to see the ice spike fall off. Not long afterward, we heard some large cracking noises and were able to see that tall spike of ice break away and fall. It seemed to last a long time as all of the ice crashed into the water, and I was able to get several photos.
Then we saw the huge wave that had been formed by the falling ice, and it took several minutes for the large waves to travel out to our boat. They were quite high, but the boat was large enough to handle them with ease, it would have been much different in a smaller boat or kayak.
It was funny to watch the seals on the ice as the waves passed by under them, they did not seem to care much or hardly move.
Brown Spots Are Harbor Seals
We then eased up even closer to the glacier, and could better see the seals floating on the ice pieces. There was another smaller excursion boat there with us, and when it left, we moved up even closer. We were there about 30 minutes, and it was time to head back to Seward.
The Captain said he wanted to have at least 10 minutes of spare time in case we saw something along the way back and needed to stop to see it.
Scenery On The Ride Back
The ride back was a little over two hours, and it was pretty foggy, and we were sure it was also periodically showering. They served us some brownies for a snack, and they were really good. A lot of people were napping, the gentle rocking of the boat was enough to put anyone to sleep.
We did stop about half way back, apparently another boat had reported seeing some humpback whales. The Captain made a slow circle, and a lot of people went outside to try and help the Captain and crew look for the whales, but we stayed seated in the warmth on the inside. After about 10 minutes, and not seeing anything, the Captain resumed our course back toward Seward.
As we got closer to Seward, we took our phones out of airplane mode, and had a good cell signal. That was when Stephanie got a text from Ashley. It was not real specific at first, but she said they had gone into town and she had tested positive for COVID. She did not say anything about Bryan, but we assumed he tested positive also, he had been sicker and had gotten sick first.
We thought they might just be kidding at first, and we were waiting for the “Gotcha” text, but it never came. There were a couple of more texts and we found out they had both tested positive for certain. Ashley had called her doctor and left a message about getting the COVIS anti viral medicine, as well as some prednisone for her sinuses. She also got antibiotics for a sinus infection, but who really knows if that is an infection or just COVID symptoms. We knew that her prescriptions would not be ready until tomorrow, it was Sunday, and was already late on the East Coast.
A little while later, after we had docked and gotten off of the boat, we walked out to the front of the hotel to get picked up. Ashley was picking us up and she had a mask on and had the windows open. At first, she was not in the right location, we had to call and get her to come to the hotel 360, which was apparently a different meeting spot for this same tour they did a couple of years ago.
We first went to the Safeway to get a few more things we now needed. The plan had always been to go back there after the boat tour, we all needed to get the rest of the groceries for the week, the first trip had only been to get us through today. We also got some Lysol Spray and some Clorox wipes.
After the grocery stop, we headed back to the cabin. I thought I would try and split some wood for the sauna stove, so I found a hatchet in the house in the storage room, and decided to try and split some of the shorter logs in “Do Not Use” wood pile. I was able to split a couple of halves of logs into much smaller pieces, and I placed them in the sauna. Hopefully we will be able to use them sometime during our stay here, depending on the outcome of our possibly already being exposed to COVID on the drive here yesterday.
Stephanie and I enjoyed some wine outside on the deck, the sun had started to come out a little when we had gotten back to Seward on the boat tour, and it was pretty outside now, not too cold, but a little windy. We were just trying to social distance, and come up with a feasible plan for the stay here.
Ashley and Bryan were staying in their room, and we were all wearing masks while we were in the house area downstairs. We have no idea whether they were also wearing masks in their room, we doubted it, and it is a pain.
Grilling Brats Again For Dinner
It started to get cool outside, so we headed in and sat at the dining room table having some more wine and enjoying our kettle corn we had purchased at the market in Homer.
A little bit later, we started to boil the pasta for our Suddenly Salad pasta salad. Once that was done, we started boiling the beer and onions for the leftover brats. After they boiled for a while, we cooked them the rest of the way on the grill. They were every bit as good as last night’s, but even better with the pasta salad.
We cleaned up the dishes from dinner and now it was time for us to get cleaned up. We took showers downstairs in the shared bathroom, we only have the one shower in the entire cabin, so we can’t totally separate the bathroom duties, other than the toilet and sink, since we also have those upstairs, which is good.
Afterward, we enjoyed a couple of VO drinks while sitting at the kitchen table and enjoying the view of Resurrection Bay out the large picture window. There were quite a few fishing boats returning to the harbor.
At about 10:45 PM, we headed upstairs to bed. We will just have to wait and see what happens with the COVID, and if we were exposed enough to catch it while riding in the car for the five hours yesterday. I am sure our odds are not good.
Oh no! Hope you all don’t get sick!! I have enjoyed reading the blog so far!