Saturday, 23 August 2014
Kenai Fjords National Park
Not many national parks in the US are visited by a catamaran boat but the Kenai Fjords National Park is one. There are several cruise companies in Seward which provide day trips into the park. We took one in 2011 and enjoyed it so much we decided to go again this year. As an added enjoyment, Meriam’s brother and sister also joined us on the tour.
Kenai Fjords became a national park in 1980. It encompasses more than a thousand square miles of land and water. The vast Harding Icefield and many surrounding glaciers are the geological heart of the park. There is also a large and diverse collection of sea life available for viewing.
The weather on this trip was overcast and cold but the trip itself was most enjoyable. While we witnessed a number of marine mammals and bird (such as seals, sea otters, whales, an eagle or two, and mountain goats), the highlight of the trip were the Puffins.
On our last trip, we saw only a couple of Puffins. On this trip we got “up close and personal” with literally hundreds of the interesting birds. Two of the three species of puffins are located in the park, the tufted and the horned. While we saw both, the horned puffin represented the majority viewed.
You will note from the photographs, the puffins are multi-colored with bright orange beaks. As it turns out, puffins only display these brightly colored beaks during their mating season. They feed primarily by diving deep in the water and breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands. Their short wings are adapted for swimming with a flying technique under water. In the air, they beat their wings rapidly, up to 400 times per minute. This rapid motion is required because of their almost solid bone structure, rendering them much heavier than other birds. They must beat their wings this fast in order to stay aloft. Because of this they appear to be clumsy when taking to the air or landing.
While we have focused on the puffins in this post, we would be remiss not to mention the two glaciers we were able to visit. We can close our eyes and see these magnificent “chunks of ice” as they moan, creak, snap and pop as they calf off large icebergs and pieces of ice. There is no other sound like it!
Meriam and her 4 month old reindeer
A reindeer is a domesticated Caribou!
Resurrection Bay, Seward
Our camping spot — Right on Resurrection Bay
Our MajorMarine tour boat returning from the day’s run.
Rock spires formed by wave action
Harbor Seal – Not seen very often
Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale. I was not able to “catch” it breaching.
Humpback Whale
Stellar Seals – On the endangered species list
Guess
Holegate Glacier
Sea Otter – He says: “Hi Avonlea”!
Lazy Days
Aialik Glacier – Notice how small the boat is with respect to the glacier!
Meriam and her brother Ken share a “glacial” margarita (made from a glacial iceberg.)
Aialik Glacier – The “black specs” in the foreground are seals.
Aialik Glacier caving (shedding ice in to the ocean making icebergs).
An interesting “iceberg sculpture”.
Puffins in their nesting areas on a cliff.
Wonderful colors of a puffin
Puffins are very clumsy as they begin to fly. They have solid bones so they are much heavier than their aviary kin.
A puffin trying to take off, then decides to dive underwater instead.
Perhaps my best puffin photograph. Notice the red eye liner!
More stellar seals. Notice the “pups.”
A mountain goat on the edge of a cliff.