July 12, 2018
Our 2
nd full day in Seward and it looked like our
rainy weather was done. With a forecast for sun on Thursday, we walked down to
the marina Wednesday morning and booked a Resurrection Bay wildlife tour with
Major Marine to depart the following morning at 9:00. It would be a 3 and ½ -hour
tour to the end of Resurrection Bay and back, slowing down and/or stopping for
whatever wildlife our boat, the Orca Song, would come across.
So, Thursday morning we hastily said “See you later” to Nina
and the Siesta and hustled back down the Iditarod Trail to our 8:15 check-in
date with Major Marine.
Sunny it was! But oh, so cold!! Once the boat picked up
speed after clearing the marina and stopping to watch a couple of sea otters
swimming/floating in the shallow water near the harbor, the wind felt frigid. Taking
photos with mittens on is impossible, so it wasn’t long before my fingers were
too cold to press the circle on my phone, and I had to vary my on- deck time
with inside warming times.
However, what a great tour we had! Besides sea otters here
and there, we watched puffins and murres swimming and diving and hundreds of
kittiwakes flitting about and roosting on the island rock wall faces toward the
end of Resurrection Bay. Also, we saw two harbor seals on a rock ledge with
another waiting for a wave to propel it onto the ledge. We saw Stellar sea
lions hauled out in Emerald Cove and, most fun of all, three humpback whales at
different locations, one of which was lunge feeding. It surfaced and resurfaced
with open mouth several times. Our captain cut the boat’s motor, so we could
stand in quiet and watch the action. Add to those sightings four adult bald eagles
and a very brief glimpse of a harbor porpoise as it “humped” out of the water. It
was a very good morning!
Our 2nd full day in Seward and it looked like our
rainy weather was done. With a forecast for sun on Thursday, we walked down to
the marina Wednesday morning and booked a Resurrection Bay wildlife tour with
Major Marine to depart the following morning at 9:00. It would be a 3 and ½ -hour
tour to the end of Resurrection Bay and back, slowing down and/or stopping for
whatever wildlife our boat, the Orca Song, would come across.
So, Thursday morning we hastily said “See you later” to Nina
and the Siesta and hustled back down the Iditarod Trail to our 8:15 check-in
date with Major Marine. 
However, what a great tour we had! Besides sea otters here
and there, we watched puffins and murres swimming and diving and hundreds of
kittiwakes flitting about and roosting on the island rock wall faces toward the
end of Resurrection Bay. Also, we saw two harbor seals on a rock ledge with
another waiting for a wave to propel it onto the ledge. We saw Stellar sea
lions hauled out in Emerald Cove and, most fun of all, three humpback whales at
different locations, one of which was lunge feeding. It surfaced and resurfaced
with open mouth several times. Our captain cut the boat’s motor, so we could
stand in quiet and watch the action. Add to those sightings four adult bald eagles
and a very brief glimpse of a harbor porpoise as it “humped” out of the water. It
was a very good morning!
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