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Showing posts with label puffins. Show all posts

Wildlife Cruise, 5/24/24

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

We went on the "orca quest" wildlife cruise out of Seward with Major Marine Tours. It was a shorter one (four hours) and it worked out great for us! It was a little chilly, but we brought hats and gloves and stayed warm, and luckily the water wasn't too rough and none of us got sick either! We ended up seeing quite a bit of wildlife (including lots of orcas!) and it was so fun! We also were in Kenai Fjords National Park for part of the cruise. So beautiful! Enjoy these pics!

Resident orcas. I rented a telephoto lens which was so fun to use!

Alaska SeaLife Center, 5/24/24

After tidepooling for a bit we headed to the Alaska SeaLife Center. We saw lots of cool birds, and it was fun to see the all the seals and sea lions and other marine life. The girls also enjoyed the touch pools. Afterwards we walked around downtown Seward for a bit. It was a fun morning!

Horned Puffin

Whale Watching, 6/24/23

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

One of the last things Scott and I did on our couples trip to the PNW was go whale watching out of Port Townsend. I was really hoping to see orcas, and we did!! We saw a family of four, the T123s! This is a family of Transient (Bigg's) orcas, including 38 year old Mom T123 (Sidney), 23 year old son 123A (Stanley), 11 year old daughter T123C (Lucky), and 5 year old daughter T123D (Darcy). I love all the research being done, including how to protect these whales and their environment, and I love how this included our boat staff being able to recognize this group right away. We didn't see them do anything crazy like breaching, but it was still so fun to see them on this beautiful day.

Our tour also included a stop at Friday Harbor for lunch. It was a really cute town where we walked and shopped for a bit. We got a NYC style pizza from the rudest chef/employee ever, but it was ended up being one of the best pizzas and salad we've ever had, haha. While here we also saw a group of three missionaries and I always laugh when I think about the first two easily riding their e-bikes up this pretty big hill, and then the third one huffing and puffing his way up on a regular bike, lol.

After lunch we got back on the boat for a bit and we saw some sea lions and a tufted puffin! It was a fun day, and luckily no one got seasick!

Kenai Fjords Wildlife Cruise, 6/22/20

Saturday, July 25, 2020

One of the main reasons we went to Seward was to go on a wildlife cruise! We decided to do a longer one (6 hours on the boat) this time, and it was amazing! We were lucky to have gorgeous weather and smooth waters, so no one got sick! We ended up seeing humpback whales, sea lions, seals, Dall's porpoises, sea birds, and many glaciers, including the beautiful tidewater glacier, Aialik Glacier. It was such a fun day, the girls were good (Noelle and Robyn were just a little difficult at times), and we got lots of cool pics! Enjoy! (I rented a telephoto lens to use for this trip so it was fun to zoom in super close to all the animals we saw.)

We were so lucky to be able to see this group of humpbacks bubble-net feeding! It was so cool! The boat we were on also had an underwater microphone so we could hear the whales talking to each other! One of them would start the song, and then they would all know when to blow bubbles and then open their mouths at the same time to eat. Amazing!

Alaska SeaLife Center, 6/11/18

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

After spending the morning at the AWCC we continued on our way to Seward. Ruby wanted to go the SeaLife Center for her birthday, and we thought about going on a wildlife cruise, but I'm glad we didn't because it was kinda cold and windy, and it would have been very cold and windy on the boat. Ruby also had bad memories of throwing up off the boat, lol. But we had fun at the SeaLife Center, and then afterwards we drove back to Girdwood and spent the night at an Air B&B there. So fun!

Seward is so pretty!

Noelle loved the touching the water and starfish, but Ruby was too scared, lol.

Long Tailed Duck. So cute!

Horned Puffin

Tufted Puffin

Red-legged Kittiwake

Rhinoceros Auklets

Cute little seal

The sea lions are huge!!

Cutest sisters <3

St. Paul Island, 5/13-20/18

Friday, June 1, 2018

I could probably sub-title this post "the longest week of my life" lol. Haha, but really, it was very challenging taking care of the girls all on my own for a week. Scott is the best husband and daddy and we missed him so much! Scott left for St. Paul on Sunday (Mother's Day) and then returned home the following Sunday (his birthday). The week he was gone was also Ruby's last week of school. Haha, the timing wasn't the greatest, but we made it through! And Scott got some amazing pics while on St. Paul Island! I had so much fun going through these and learning more about the wildlife there. :)

Also, check out these links to learn more about St. Paul:
-The Island
-The cliff-nesting birds of St. Paul
-Many birders go to St. Paul to see rare migratory birds from Asia. The author above wrote this post on his personal blog, which includes some of these rare birds.
-More pics of St. Paul from the same author.

Thick-billed Murres

SeaLife Center, 6/8/17

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

The next morning we walked to the SeaLife Center from our hotel. We loved seeing all the animals, and decided the puffins were definitely our favorites, at least to take pictures of, lol. Enjoy the pics!

This trail blazer statue is right outside the Sea Life Center.

The sea lions are huge!

Seward Wildlife Cruise, 6/7/17

Monday, June 12, 2017

We left for Seward really early Wednesday morning. We stopped for breakfast at Krispy Kreme, which the girls loved. We made it to Seward about an hour or so before our boat left so we walked around Seward and the harbor for a little bit, and then we boarded the boat. It was the 5 hour cruise around Resurrection Bay. We ended up seeing one humpback whale, sea otters, lots of eagles, sea lions, harbor seals, puffins, and mountain goats pretty close to the shore. It was so fun! Unfortunately it got really rough about half way in and a lot of people got sick, including Ruby. Poor girl. Luckily Scott got her to the back of the boat in time to throw up off the side of the boat, haha. But then the water calmed down again on our way back and we were all good.

After the cruise we checked into our hotel and then walked around Seward and had dinner. It was a very fun day! :)

Exploring around Seward before getting on the boat

St. Paul Island, 5/14-19/17

Monday, May 22, 2017

I'm guest blogging for Holly. I'm Holly's husband, Scott. Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time on St. Paul Island in the middle of the Bering Sea. We boarded the plane in Anchorage, but the left engine was smoking and wouldn't start. We eventually got on another plane and arrived around 11:00 pm Sunday night. There were many setbacks over the next few days. I was traveling with two coworkers and between the three of us only one cooler out of our five checked bags made the trip. Because my suitcase didn't make the trip I wore the same clothes for 4 days in a row (day and night) without changing or showering. Finally, on the 5th day I broke down and washed my clothes and borrowed a pair of scrubs from the clinic.

Me at the airport showing just how Alaskan I've become.

We climbed a volcano and explored a cave on a field trip with the school. It was probably the most dangerous field trip of the 21st Century.

St. Paul Island, 5/4-6/16

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Scott's work sent him back to St. Paul Island (one of the four Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea) for the second time, and this time I made him take my big camera. He came back saying he's been bitten by the photography bug! Yay! I think it's so fun to take pics and remember memories, so I'm glad Scott is starting to like it, too! :)

This trip everything was a little bit more green, and the sun was out for a good part of it, too! Scott captured some beautiful pics and I had so much fun going through all of them and editing them. If you'd like to read more about the migratory birds on St. Paul Island, Scott found a great blog post here (part 1) and here (part 2)! Enjoy the pics!

Also, Scott had a great and successful trip! He'll most likely be going back sometime next year.

Otter Island in the background