Day 40
Sunday, July 17
Alaska Sea Life Center and
Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise
Grey skies, low hanging clouds and 55 degrees greeted us when we got up this morning. After a breakfast of french toast using sourdough bread we
joined the rest of our group for a ride-share to the Alaska Sea Life Center.
Our tour was a behind the scenes tour of the entire facility. We saw how they filtered water for the different animals, how they studied different animals to learn about eating habits, diseases, reproduction, environmental needs, etc. They had tanks with different kinds of sea creatures waiting to be studies.
We learned about how they train animals to
assist in their tests.
For example, they have a harbor seal that willingly sticks it's head into the cone use for anethesesizing animals for surgery and other tests. Another has a velcro pad glued to hits head to which they attach cameras or other instruments to allow them to study the animal's behavior. The velro pad falls off when they sea lion molts each year. They also rescue and rehabilitate marine animals they find anywhere around the world. They bring the injured animal in to Seward, treat it, rehabilitate it, and release it if possible back into it's home
environment.
They have done work in Russia, Alaska, Canada, Antarctica, Norway and many other places around the globe. They have a complete veterinary staff that treats animals and even operates on animals - even fish.
Following our tour we had about 1 hr. to visit the public part of the center. This is the only part that most people visit. Here they had many
marine animals to view in a habitat very close to their own.
We saw salmon from the fry stage to those weighing about 2 lbs, harbor seals, sea
lions, many different birds, octopus,
squid, sea stars, and lots of other fish and birds.
The bus from Major Marine picked us up about 11:30 to take us to the docks for our afternoon trip.
We boarded the Star of the Northwest for a 5 hour nature tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park. We were barley out of the harbor when they announced that lunch was served. Lunch consisted of Prime Rib, Baked Salmon, Green Salad, Rice Pilaf, and Sourdough Bread. Getting back up the stairs to our table while balancing our lunch was a little difficult, but everyone made it without a spill.
Following lunch, Ranger Lani Lockwood, an interpretive park ranger for the National Park Service talked to us about the geography of the Seward area and the Kenai Fjords National Park. She explained that on March 27, 1964 a major earthquake rattled Alaska and shook the town of Seward into Resurrection Bay. Most of the town, particularly the industrial section, was totally destroyed. The earthquake was stronger than the recent quake in Japan. She went on to tell us how the Kenai Fjords and Resurrection Bay were created.
Thousands of years ago the mountains in this area were covered with glaciers. As the glaciers moved forward they carved out valleys between the mountains and the bay area. As the glaciers receded the valleys filled with water creating the fjords and Resurrection Bay.
What we saw was the result of that glacial movement - soaring mountains with glaciers hanging in their upper regions and thick vegetation covering the lower part, beautiful rocky shores with jagged outcroppings and deep splits in the rock. The magnitude of the beauty was awesome.
The water was a beautiful shade of green due to the glacial flour mixed into the water in the rivers and streams feeding the bay. Tremendous waterfalls from high on the mountains found their way down to the bay. It was an awesome, beautiful site. All of the glaciers are a part of the Harding Ice Field - a huge field of ice that covers the tops of the mountains and branches out as glaciers in many different areas.
The largest glacier in Alaska is Bear Glacier. It runs 13 miles from the bay back up into the mountains to the Harding Ice Fields.
At the base of the glacier iceburgs many stories tall have calved off and wait in a large lake waiting to melt.
During the trip we saw lots of sea life.
We saw sea lions, dolphins, puffins, a humpback whale, a killer whale with a baby, bald eagles, and lots of seabirds during our cruise. The Park Ranger felt that we were very lucky to see both kinds of whales since Killer Whales are not due here until next month.
The whales made many appearances but I didn't get much of a picture of them. They came up and went back under so suddenly I couldn't get the camera ready. The sea lions were mainly laying on the rocks. A few were swimming. I guess overall we were lucky to see as much as we did.
At one point in the tour the ranger pulled a bucket of water from the bay for us to feel. It was a cool 42 degrees! She then held a bag of bubble wrap in the water and had us stick our hand into the bag. The bag was similar to the fur of a sea otter and demonstrated how the otter is able to survive in the cold environment. Another bag of feathers was put into the water to simulate a seabirds ability to stay warm. She also had a pelt from a sea otter for us to feel. It has over 1,000,000 hairs per square inch. It was extremely soft and warm.
The Park Ranger asked if anyone wanted to be a Jr. Ranger.
Since there were no children on board, I took the challenge. She gave me a book of questions that a ranger needed to know. It was written on about a 4th grade level. By age brackets, applicants had to answer a certain number of pages. I had to answer all the questions on every page in the book. After about 30 minutes I completed my book and took it to the Ranger to check.
After a while she came up to our deck and held a swearing-in ceremony. I am officially a Jr. Ranger for the Kenai Fjords National Park. I even have a badge to prove it. I also got to wear the Ranger's "smoky the bear" hat. Everyone in our group got a good laugh out of the ceremony and most took the oath right along with me - they didn't get a badge though!
Tomorrow is another free day. We plan to go to Exit Glacier. Other than that I don't know what we will do. Whatever it is, I'll tell you about it in tomorrow's blog. Till then - Happy trails!!
Our tour was a behind the scenes tour of the entire facility. We saw how they filtered water for the different animals, how they studied different animals to learn about eating habits, diseases, reproduction, environmental needs, etc. They had tanks with different kinds of sea creatures waiting to be studies. 
We learned about how they train animals to 
They have done work in Russia, Alaska, Canada, Antarctica, Norway and many other places around the globe. They have a complete veterinary staff that treats animals and even operates on animals - even fish.
We saw salmon from the fry stage to those weighing about 2 lbs, harbor seals, sea 
squid, sea stars, and lots of other fish and birds. 
We boarded the Star of the Northwest for a 5 hour nature tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park. We were barley out of the harbor when they announced that lunch was served. Lunch consisted of Prime Rib, Baked Salmon, Green Salad, Rice Pilaf, and Sourdough Bread. Getting back up the stairs to our table while balancing our lunch was a little difficult, but everyone made it without a spill. 
Thousands of years ago the mountains in this area were covered with glaciers. As the glaciers moved forward they carved out valleys between the mountains and the bay area. As the glaciers receded the valleys filled with water creating the fjords and Resurrection Bay. 
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