Seward

Seward, gets my vote for most improved town in Alaska! Gone is the smelly little village of fish canneries. Twenty years ago it was a dingy town full of summer student-workers living in tents in the mud. Storefronts were old, and gray. When we discussed going there this year, I was ready to give it a miss.

Today, the town makes me feel my memories might belong to another village in a galaxy far, far away. Even in the overcast weather, Seward seemed bright and vibrant. This is a town that has cleaned up well and presents itself as tourist friendly. Storefronts seem to serve the local economy and interest tourists. Waterfront access today is easy and approachable, not muddy and slimy. The aquarium/learning center provides a quick preview of Alaskan waters and ecology with great displays. Videos on the devastating 1964 earthquake/tsunami provide great insight into the value of preparation and regeneration.

I had hoped to see a couple of new creatures on this trip. Puffins were number one on my list. The other was orcas. I saw puffins in the aquarium. That was good, but caged creatures? Its easy, its interesting, but somehow still wrong. So on our boat tour to Fjords National Park I was on high puffin alert. The naturalist answered my puffin question with, “no question we’ll see puffin. We always see ‘em out there.” Yahoo! puffins coming up. On the way we saw the glacier, whales, eagles etc. The best was the puffins we saw on the cliffs from the Fjordland. My photos show little guys that are much more exciting to me than being five feet away from the aquarium puffins. We also saw Murres and lots of other sea birds. (You will likely need to click this photos to get them large enough to see what they are!)





Best of all on that tour was seeing the puffins flying like footballs with wings. I had the video camera and got a shot of those fast fluttering short wings and that was my high point on that cold weather day. Maybe I'll get the video posted here eventually.

Flukes from the hump back whales wave goodbye as they plunged in a sound. Two eagles fit close and personal in one photo shot off the bow of the boat. I was cold, cold, cold standing out on the deck.
Then there are the glaciers. Exit Glacier is the only part of the FNP one can drive to. It’s the tip of the ….ice field. What’s over the crest and out of sight is a huge ice field driving the glacier down like frosting hanging over a cake ledge. The glacier we expected to approach quite closely was blocked by a huge wall of ice. Only kayaks go beyond that wall back to watch the calving action up close. Plenty of ice flow in the waters to make it look like we fell in a giant cocktail glass.

My final opinion: If you have only a brief time for the Kenai Peninsula while in Alaska, make sure Seward is on your list.