As I was planning my trip to Alaska one of the biggest questions was what to do with my time. I knew I wanted to try to get to Denali National Park if the weather looked good, and I would be spending time in my home town of Eagle River and nearby Anchorage. Another town was luring too, since a trip down to Seward might mean visiting Exit Glacier and possibly taking a sight-seeing tour into Resurrection Bay. At that point, I reached out to Major Marine Tours about their 5-hour wildlife viewing tour, since they offer many tours of differing lengths at reasonable prices.
I decided to go on a cruise on Labor Day, and was very lucky to have a day of great weather. After growing up in Alaska, I have firm memories of many Seward boat tours where the skies were grey, the rain never ceased, and I was besieged with seasickness the entire trip… not exactly the kind of thing you want your children to have cemented into their brains, but I thought that was just the way the weather always is in Seward. Actually, if you ask the locals, they’ll generally agree!
After an easy boarding process onto the Star of the Northwest, we set sail under completely blue skies with an ambitious late-summer sun keeping the wind at a reasonable temperature. Resurrection Bay spread out before us as the crew went through safety and schedule details, and after a short time we were lucky enough to pass a few otters. I don’t know if it’s common practice, but I considered it a good sign–if the otters were willing to come out into the sun, maybe we would be lucky with other wildlife too!
As we sailed south into the Bay, the crew prepared us for lunch. My ticket included a prime rib and salmon lunch add-on, and I was excited to try what our on-board chef had prepared. The meal was served buffet style, and I was pretty ravenous by that point because I hadn’t had much breakfast with all the hiking and coffee-drinking I’d been doing before setting sail (to help me recover from the hostel experience I mentioned earlier…). The salmon was deliciously moist and the prime rib was served with a delicious cranberry horseradish. I was particularly fond of the rice pilaf, which was buttery and warming, especially after spending a while out on the upper deck.
Given that I had a private, reserved table, getting called up to get food was a painless process, and I didn’t have to try and find a place to sit with strangers… I don’t mind solo travel or dining, but finding a place to sit in a cafeteria setting always gives me the willies.
As the afternoon wore on, we reached the outer edge of the bay with relatively little to report. I wasn’t worried–there’s never a guarantee for wildlife even in peak season (and we were pushing the limit with it being the 1st of September), and in a 5-hour tour, there’s plenty of time for surprise wildlife encounters. I wasn’t wrong.
First, we started to see seabirds. In particular, puffins began to swoop near the boat. These cute birds are always a crowd favorite, though I admit they’re tough to photograph without a zoom and shutter control. Then, we came across Steller sea lions sunning themselves on a rock–possibly resting up for a long swim south in the coming days.
Then, as it always goes with wildlife in Alaska, everything began to happen at once. Our boat turned to give one side a better view of the sea lions as a whale spout was sighted off the other. It didn’t take long for everyone’s attention to focus on the latter, and our captain did an amazing job of carefully and respectfully following the whale as he dove and blew moving farther out into the Gulf of Alaska. Suddenly, another whale was spotted, and a third. Our on-board Park Ranger said that they were humpbacks, probably young males who were late to migrate south as they claimed territory in the area. Given the activity we were seeing, the captain and crew were happy to give us a good long time to watch and snap photos of the spouts and backs, and even once the side of the whale as one took a great bite of plankton in what’s called “lunge feeding.” Then, as we rounded Barwell Island, the real show began.
One of the whales decided that we should be rewarded from our patience and decided to breach not once but three times, all right in front of the boat. When he wasn’t breaching, he would lay on his side and flap his flukes against the water. If you’ve ever wondered what the best way is to make 100+ adults stand in perfect stillness and silence, just put a whale in front of them: his flukes slapped like your hand slaps the surface of water, but magnified a hundred-fold. The sound wasn’t loud, but it also wasn’t familiar. The whole thing was, in short, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Our captain managed to handle the boat through the whole ‘show’ (I mean, can you call it a show when it’s just nature doing nature’s thing?) in such a way that we weren’t buffeted by the swells coming out of the open water, and when the whale started diving again, we turned back inland for the second half of our tour.
I explored the boat a bit more as we made our way back among the mountains and glaciers. From the Captain’s Deck, I kept my eyes peeled for wildlife until the crew announced dessert was served, and I was lured below deck by the promise of cheesecake and fudge. Like any good food-blogger, I completely forgot to take a photo and ate the dessert so fast that I felt bad about going back for seconds just to take a photo. I then relaxed with another cup of coffee and watched the waves roll by, gently lured into a nap by the soft rocking of the boat.
At this point, I’d like to point out that I have never not fallen asleep for part of one of the day-cruises out of Seward. After spending hours out in the wind and with rapt attention on the search for wildlife, I gladly succumbed to the excuse that “I’m on vacation” and took a small snooze while my phone recharged. Wisely, my reserved table was next to one of only two outlets on the deck, and I was able to rest peacefully with my phone near at hand.
I woke up as we passed Bear Glacier, a huge mass of ice that comes out of the mountains from Harding Ice Field (the same ice field as Exit Glacier). Once, Bear Glacier reached all the way to Resurrection Bay, but in the past decade it has receded up onto the land to form a freshwater lake in front of it. Now, trees and a gravelly beach stand between the water and the face of the glacier. While I had slept, clouds began to form over us and this only added a deeper blue hue to the ice.
The rest of the cruise was relaxingly uneventful as we came back into Seward. The Park Ranger continued to give us information about glaciers and the surrounding countryside as we made our way into the harbor, and I stepped back onto land without any sea-legs to speak of–it’s a real testament to the weather and captain that there was absolutely no point on the cruise where I felt seasickness (disclaimer: I did take Dramamine, which probably helped keep my stomach stable, and also contributed to my desire for napping). I enjoyed sailing with Major Marine Tours from every aspect: checkin and ticketing was easy, boarding was simple, and the crew made me feel safe the entire time I was on board.
I couldn’t have asked for a better cruise; many visitors during the year didn’t have as beautiful weather or as agreeable wildlife as we did on our cruise. In fact, many boats the same day may have had different experiences. That’s why I always love taking the cruises: you never know what you’ll see, so every experience is unique and worth doing! I’m sure I’ll go back again, since this cruise was so enjoyable, and I look forward to the chance to sail with Major Marine Tours again.
This cruise was sponsored by Major Marine Tours, but as always, my opinions are my own. I highly recommend comparing their price with other cruise providers by checking their website: https://www.majormarine.com
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