Two weeks since my last email?! I know, I know, you all are missing me but there’s good reason for that!
Nearly 24-hour daylight doesn’t mean I stay up all night like a vampire, I do have to sleep sometimes! (I’m not up here camping out with the Cullens) My weird schedule plus the time change makes it a little difficult to find the perfect time to send emails that aren’t getting to you at 9 pm!
~ Side note: if you’re reading this in an email & it randomly cuts off - BLAME GMAIL! You can click on this cute little green button to read the whole thing & also read my past letters! I chose to use this app to send you my letters so you had the option to do that 😋
Either way, I’m settling in & finding new fun things to do on my days off! Back to the point, last weekend I was able to go on a marine cruise of Kenai Fjords National Park, through Resurrection Bay, around the gulf of Alaska & out to Aialik Glacier!
The company I work for allows us as employees to go on these cruises for free! So my friend Ella & I hopped on, ready to see some sights
On our journey out to the fjords (fe-yordz) through Resurrection Bay - the body of water that branches off from the Gulf of Alaska, which Seward is located on - the sun wasn’t shining the brightest & it was a little rainy…
but all was looking up for us when we spotted a huge pod of orcas right off of a place called Caines Head!! This little piece of land that juts out into the bay actually does a lot for Seward, where it blocks much of the open ocean & has made it a major trade hub in Alaska because it was historically one of the largest commercial ports since it was at the end (and beginning) of the Alaska Railway!
These whales here are Type A Resident killer whales, which is characterized by their large fins, distinct white patches & their matriarchal society they live in - they might be a little hard to see in parts but you can spot some pop up in the water. I mean, how could you miss those fins!
Fun fact: the bay is actually a fjord itself! Which allows the orcas & numerous other marine mammals to thrive here right outside of town. Fjords are characterized by being extremely deep & very narrow - Resurrection is over 1,000 feet deep!! You may be wondering why it is called that, but the name “Resurrection” was given to the bay & a nearby river when a Russian explorer dude way back in the 1700s, named Alexandr Baranov, was forced to retreat into the bay during a bad storm in the North Pacific & the storm just so happened to have cleared on Easter Day, giving Baranov & his team motivation to keep exploring the North Pacific!
I don’t know what you know about the North Pacific, but do you see those rocks in the picture below? I took this picture facing directly south towards the Gulf of Alaska. Yeah, well, there’s nothing past that (other than the Hawai’ian islands) UNTIL YOU REACH ANTARCTICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No wonder those Russian dudes had a hell of a time out there way back when.
After we made it through some gnarly 12 foot waves ourselves & the largest expanse of open ocean IN THE WORLD we headed back up into Aialik Bay. Below me in this picture above is 750ft of freezing cold Pacific water. Everything about Alaska really is BIG AND WILD! (Not scary though, the boats are very safe and I trust the crew)
As we were exiting the bay & around the Chiswell Islands (Yes! the ones I talked about in my last letter!) we were able to spot tons of birds & even bald eagles in the area! Can you spot the critter in this video here?
One fun thing about Alaska is the fact that most of the time when you spot critters, you want to stay far away from them. In this instance we were on a boat far from the shore so I had an excuse, but we were able to spot a black bear on top of this hill as the sun started to come out for us!
Aialik Glacier empties out into the Gulf & the pressure from a whole underwater mountain, that brings the depth of the water up to only 35 feet, pushes against the Harding Icefield to form the glacier & gives us a beautiful view! The Harding Icefield is soooo cool!! Literally! This freezing area used to cover nearly half of Alaska! (Thats over 300,000 square miles!) and is over 700 square miles today & covered in nearly 100. inches of snow. Not only do we get awesome glaciers from this icefield, but it has helped form the surrounding smaller bodies of water that is home to so much amazing wildlife!
The Aialik Glacier (I-alik) is over a half a mile wide & home to tons of marine life. Once we moved a little closer we were told to keep our eyes peeled for spotted seals, but instead saw a ton of sea otters in their place! (Please excuse me for the lack of pictures of them, I had to make use of those binoculars)
After we spent quite a bit of time at the glacier, we headed back towards the Chiswell Islands & were able to see some Stellar Sea lions in the wild!
And one of the most exciting parts of the trip was the pod of humpback whales we spotted! I had never seen a whale in my life before last Friday, so this was super exciting!
On the way back into town I was actually able to see where I was living from the outside & some more amazing views of the waterfalls & mountains surrounding the area.
Overall, the trip was amazing! I feel so special to be a part of this company & so fortunate to be able to do fun things over the weekends & meet all sorts of amazing people. I do also happen to live with the crew of the boat & the senior deck hand lives right next door to me, so that just made it even more fun & safe!
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my letters! I love sharing with everyone & being able to learn new things along the way! I’ve heard so much positive feedback & so many are excited to hear what I have to say ❤︎︎
Thanks again & until next time
- Grace