We decided to travel from Anchorage to Seward by train. This was to give everyone a break from driving and to make sure everyone had a chance to enjoy the scenery. Like many tourist attractions in Alaska during the summer, it is good to book this one ahead of time. As my mom worked on our itinerary, she ended up adjusting the schedule at one point because the train was fully booked on the original day she wanted. Anyway, I highly recommend it! It travels slowly enough that you can get a good look at the scenery. We were lucky to see moose and Dall sheep from the train.
Be forewarned that the Anchorage-Seward train has an early departure time, but it's still well worth it in my opinion.
One of the reasons we were going to Seward was to take a day cruise in the Kenai Fjords. I am going to go out on a limb here and not recommend the multi-day cruises on the huge cruise ships, despite never having take one in Alaska. Why not? For one thing, they have every appearance of being environmentally disastrous. Also, small towns end up being absolutely overwhelmed by the sudden influx of hundreds of people from the cruise ships. Day cruises are a different matter, though. If you are interested in seeing marine animals, they may be your best opportunity to do so.
The day we arrived in Seward, it was very rainy, as locals told us it had been most of the summer. We visited the Alaska Sea Life Center, which I also recommend; it's another opportunity to see marine animals, albeit outside of their usual habitats. The next day, miraculously, it was sunny! Perfect weather for our cruise.
Since I get motion sickness sometimes, I'll discuss that portion of the cruise. Most of our time on the ship, we stayed in Resurrection Bay, where the water was fairly calm. We did venture out at one point into the ocean to see humpback whales. I was not feeling great during that time, though I'm happy to say I avoided having to throw up in front of everyone. I would say if you are at all prone to motion sickness, be prepared with anything that has helped you in the past. I took a Bonine before getting on the ship and wore acupressure bands. I also brought ginger candy. I must have had a distinctly seasick look at one point because a kindly deckhand fetched some ginger ale for me and told me to keep focused on the horizon. All of this helped, and eventually we returned to calmer water. Even with the motion sickness, I would take a cruise like this again. Just be as prepared as you can.
We saw lots of wonderful animals on the cruise: humpback whales, orcas, sea otters, seals, puffins, and sea lions. We also saw Holgate Glacier, which was amazing. It's wonderful to just be around the animals and enjoy them. I like trying to take pictures, so one lesson I'll share is that if you're interested in photographing the marine animals, invest in a camera with a decent zoom lens. I will share some pictures to illustrate my point.
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Look hard to find the fin!
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More whale fins and birds circling around hoping for fish
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Seabirds in the rocks
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| Sea lions lounging |
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| Glacier! No hidden animals here that I know of |
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| A seal relaxing on the rocks |
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One final indistinct whale picture
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| Coming up on the glacier |
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