We left the campsite to get gas and propane only to find out that the person at the gas station who filled the tanks wasn't coming on duty until 10 a.m., give or take 15 minutes. Within 20 minutes of our pulling up. five Cruiseamerica rentals pulled in behind us. We then returned the RV to the campsite and walked two blocks to our cruise tour of the bay.
The day had dawned clear and not cloudy. After boarding the tour boat, we cruised out into the bay and immediately saw two sea otters cavorting to the left of the bow. About five minutes later, we saw a cliff full of nesting seagulls, some horned and tufted puffins floating in the water. Then the harbor seals and off by himself was a Stellar seal on a rock just big enough for him. All the cruising was a couple 100 feet from the shore line. Twice the captain moved into the cliff side and almost touched it with the ship, showing us how very deep the water is along them. Later we saw mountain goats really high up on the side of the mountain and bear which look like specks on the cliff sides. We also saw Common Murres, Cormorants, Kittiwakes, some Dall's porpoise (which look like baby orcas), and two bald eagles. We also enjoyed a buffet of prime rib, grilled fresh caught salmon, salad (really, really good), and dessert. I went back for seconds on the salad.
The Park Ranger on board who did the narrative about the widlife we were seeing also commented on what a beautiful day we were having which apparently is unusual for Seward. The views were incredible - towering cliffs, some with very tall spruce trees growing out of the cracks, rivlets of glacier melt plunging down the cliff face into the sea.
The ride got a little rocky when we crossed the mouth of the bay, but smoothed out again when we got closer to the cliffs on the other side. The high light of the trip was seeing the humpback whales surfacing. One came completely out of the water. They were way too fast to take a photo of, even though I tried. All I got was a shot of a big splash of water! All in all, it was a great day.
