So Long Alaska, 'Till Next Year

A view from Homer, AK

The AirBnB cabin

for my two nights in Seward I think I hit the jackpot. The cabin I got from AirBnB was north of Seward, in the sticks, but there were other cabins nearby so not too far out. There were so many trees between my place and the others that I could pretend I was off in the wilds.



Brand spanking new, and equipped with kitchenette, full shower bathroom and the totally softest, fluffiest towels with which I have ever dried my tushe. I lolled around on the queen-size bed and well, heaven. I wrote up such a great review of the cabin that my host wrote me back that if I ever return she'll give me a discount.

I was truly reluctant to leave, but it was time to head back to Anchorage so I can fly home tomorrow. On a whim, I drove from Seward to Homer, so I could revisit the Homer Spit, which I last visited in 1997. Wow... has that place grown! When I was there previously there were only a few buildings along the spit and the beach was chock full of Bald Eagles - dozens of them. This time there were no eagles and dozens and dozens of buildings. I was sad that I couldn't remember the name of the shop where in 1997 I had the best fresh cod fish & chips I've ever eaten. I tried a different fish & chips place but it didn't - no surprise - match my jaded memory.

I took some time to visit the Islands and Oceans Visitor Center north of the spit.






The stone grey building looked like an outbuilding of Azkaban.

Metal icons line the walkway to the front door

Metal sea kelp flanked the doors. That's me in the window glass on the right.



Once inside I hit the Information area to ask if Attu, Alaska was in the range covered by the Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, and it does include Attu. Being a pain-in-the-rear, I bored the poor volunteer with the abridged version of my year 2000 birding adventures on Attu. I takes my audiences where I can get them.

Lights, cameras and action all around

Handy globe for exploring & viewing the range of the Wildlife Refuge

Diorama of an oceanic wild bird rookery

An artistic masterpiece - a Horned Puffin Mask

Beautiful Inuit seal-skin boots

A benched area near the refuge had large & artistic metal sculptures of shorebirds and such.

Metalic Alaskan Shorebirds

Gigantic Alaskan Lupine flowers

My lunch of fish & chips had, and my tour of the Refuge visitor center completed and I was off north to Anchorage. This morning I took one last venture over to one of my favorite Anchorage stops - Ooomingmak. That is the Inuit word for Muskoxen, which you know by now is a favorite critter of mine. A favorite for its weave-able and warm undercoat as well as for its awesome presence. Alloted myself a couple of keepsakes to tide me over until my next trek to Anchorage.

Kenai Fjords National Park

Steward Harbor on the Kenai Peninsula

For once my planning wasn't awful. I'd booked an AirBnB cabin near Seward for two nights. And on line I booked two different tour companies to experience two slightly different pelatic trips for wildlife viewing. I'm condensing the two days into this one post to cut y'all some slack.

One of several glaciers spilling into blue waters near Seward

Before boarding the boat on the first of two days, I made up a hand written list of the bird species I hoped to see. When a crew member asked if anyone had things they especially wanted to see, I raced over and gave him my list. Turned out that he was the captain and was thrilled to get an 'I wanna see' list. I got all embarassed at what a fuss he made over my list, and he assured me he would let me know if any of my target species popped up.

Both days the weather was pretty good but the first day had the best, sunny skies. On day two, although there were hours of gray sky that made the waters appear gray, there were also large spans of time with blue sky & equally blue waters. And wildlife on both days? OMG!

Humpback Whales blowing

Humpbacks waving hello with their fins &....

And waving bye-bye with their flukes

I totally lost track of the numbers of Humpbacks I saw on the two days. There were dozens and dozens of them.  And yet, their numbers paled in comparsion to the Orca pods we ran across.

Girlie Orcas cruising by

Male Orca on the left with its impressive dorsal fin

There were both Resident & Transient Orca pods around. The Residents are the 'usual gang' of whales, and they specialize in eating Salmon. The Transients are Orca from out of the area, and they specialize in eating seals and other whales, for ex., Gray Whale calves, seals and sea lions. The Transient Orcas are slightly physically different, having larger heads.

And there were other mammals as well, the giant Stellar's Sea Lions on the rocks...

Adorable, plump little Harbor Seals, 'sunning themselves' on blocks of ice in a glacier field.

Note female with her cute little pup on the right

Furry & busy Sea Otters.




And if you're feeling a little sea sick, there were a couple of Mountain Goats - a Nanny and her Lamb, high up on a hill side.





And birds... lots of wonderful birds. I was warm and snug in the dining area when the captain announced, "There are rare birds! The lady who had a list of birds she wanted to see, get up to the front of the ship, pronto!"

I flew.

HOLY CRAP! There, floating peacefully, were three Kittlitz's Murrelets.
Kittlitz's are found in waters off glaciers so DUH! I ought to have had them on my radar.

Breeding plumaged Kittlitz's Murrelets

This was a lifer species for me, a totally 'can't happen in a million years' lifer.

I still can't believe that I now have better photos of Kittlitz's than of Marbled Murrelets.





Another unexpected species I was lucky enough to see was a Red-faced Cormorant.

Along with the 'rarities' were the expected birds. The Pigeon Guillemot.

Fair number of Baldies to be seen

Cliff Nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes

Flying Tuffty Puffins

And nook dwelling Horned Puffins

As well as loads...

And Loads...

and loads of beautiful Alaskan scenery 

  And not to forget the several magnificient glaciers with that amazing blue ice.

You want glaciers? They got glaciers

As stated, I traveled with a different company each of the 2 days. On the 2nd day, the voyage included a trip to Fox Island, which is south of Seward on the edge of

the Pacific.

Fox Island is the bit with the red marker

Everyone disembarked onto Fox Island

Gigantic Orca skull

The Dining Room

The Fox Island stop included a prime rib dinner buffet. My *little din-din is pictured to the right. It included Alaskan King Crab legs which were extra, but well worth the expense.

*definition 'little din-din', i.e., didn't go back for fifth helpings

After the 'eats' I birded of the large back patio area that overlooked a pond. 

What will be best remembered from the 2nd day's cruise is the friend I made. I often sat inside as the wind was fearsome. Inside, all sat at large tables, mostly along the windows. At first I had a big ole table to myself, but then a cute, elderly couple sat across from me. Yeah, they were probably my age, but my brain still believes I am 32 years old. The couple were Asian, and appeared to speak no English. I speak no Chinese so we were even. As newbies on such pelagic cruises often do, the couple fell asleep, so snoozed the first several hours of the cruise. I woke them when our lunches were served tableside. They nodded their thanks and ate. I noted they often looked behind us, up a short flight of stairs where a large family group was settled - parents, kids and I assumed, grandkids. They were all one group in two different seating areas.

The Chinese lady and I were shy to catch each other's eyes to start. As the trip progressed, we began smiling at each other and communicating through pointing and exclamations of "Ahhh!" as cool critters or scenery was passed. Jovially we pointed out birds and whales out the window. The older gentleman left to settle in upstairs, and the Asian lady had fallen asleep again. When she woke, she looked around and seemed startled. She then gestured to me, "Where is my grandchild?" as one of the kids up the stairs was missing. I gestured back, with lots of hand motions, "Her daddy took her to the rest room."

She nodded at me happily, and settled back down. Soon, the father and daughter passed by as they returned. The lady looked over to me and suddenly we were laughing our arses off.

Yes! I can communicate in fluent Chinese/American hand signals.

As the trip neared its end, the lady called over her daughter and spoke excitedly to her. The daughter turned to me and smiled.

"My family and I are from Indiana", she pointed up the short staircase. "My parents here flew in from China to visit the family. We thought they'd enjoy visiting Alaska so we all flew up here. My mother wants me to tell you how much she enjoyed this cruise with you. She is tickled that although you two do not speak the same language neither of you had any trouble communicating. She is very happy she to have made friends with you."

I was so touched! The lady and I held each other's hands, heartily shaking them as our smiles signaled the International symbol for "What a great day we shared my friend!"