Monday, August 6, 2012

Whales, puffins and glaciers

Seward is beautifully located at the feet of the mountains in the Gulf of Alaska, it has a port where cruise ships often come, fishing and pleasure boats abound. There is  a large affluence of tourists who are all on a mission to soak in as much as possible of the beauty of these surroundings.

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My plan was to be a tourist for next day and take a boat tour to see the fjords. Waking up rested after previous night arrival when I was quite cold for the last few hours I wondered why my heated clothing on which I relied so much stopped working. Since it was noon time by now and rain was still doing it’s thing, I had already missed the boats leaving at 11:45 , I decided to see what went wrong with the electrics of my heated Gerbing jacket. I pulled the bike under the hotel’s covered entrance and in short order replaced the heat controller and it’s wiring with a spare I had. Turns out  some dedicated hard wired connection I installed years ago finally corroded from water and ceased, taking the inline fuse with it in the process, so I repaired it unfolding my full tool kit to the delight of some hotel guests probably wondering if they didn't stumble in the wrong establishment.

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The motel front desk folks already knew me by now and were chatting about my plans to depart next day sans boat tour if the weather didn't cooperate. They strongly advised me to go see the whales and glaciers even if it rained.

Although I wasn't so sure I wanted do do so, next day proved a miraculous break in the clouds and rain stopped, so I hoped on the next ship that sailed.

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Whales don't actually jump out like dolphins but they are cool to watch.

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Sea Otters are funny spinning around

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Puffins are also in their habitat here

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And many other birds

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Colonies of sea lions live here

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I had the stupid urge to drink this ocean water, it looked so pristine

 

Approaching a glacier

What better way to celebrate than holding a block of glacier ice

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Time to leave glacier behind and head back to port

Where a salmon dinner is welcome

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Then making the return trip to Anchorage following same scenic route going North this time

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Stumbled upon this place,  probably one of the local’s frequent ride destinations

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But it wasn't mean to be my day stop since they apparently weren't offering any rooms, so it was going to be Anchorage and Motel 6 for me that night.

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