I always found hands-on activities, such as hiking and kayaking, are great ways to experience nature. That was what we did in this boat and glacier kayaking trip.
We took a boat trip from Seward to the Resurrection Bay before starting kayaking towards the Aialik glacier. It was a mid-size boat to fit our group of six as well as another group of students. We enjoyed a good long view of Dall’s Porpoises bow riding with us for quite a while, before our boat sped up to leave them behind. It was not a whale watching tour, we felt very lucky to see one. That long time in between their breaths kept us, including the colony of seagulls, waiting for the whale to splash up the fish.
We packed up things in a heavy duty dry sack for kayaking, and the boat dropped us at a shore to pick up our kayak and accessories. It was open water kayaking towards the Aialik glacier. It took some time for us to put on a skirt and a life vest; and our kayaking guide Candice taught us some kayaking basics. It was a beautiful sunny day, and seemed perfect for kayaking. The glacier water was surprisingly warm, warmer than the water in Lake Tahoe in early summer. It was so refreshing to touch those floating icebergs, and to simply enjoy the open waters. The glacier looked quite close, but that distance was deceiving in the open water. After thousands repeats of paddling, our arms felt it, the glacier was not much closer. The ocean currents were building up, and that drained more energy. We tied our kayaks together to enjoy the beauty of the glacier, while having lunch. The three hours of kayaking gave us ample time to appreciate glaciers, explore caves, and see some wildfires including bears, oystercatchers, jellyfish.
The fitness challenges left us pretty tired on our way back to Seward. We had a quick fish-and-chip dinner at Seafood Grill, and headed back to our beautiful bear lake lodge.
Coming up The magnificent Harding Icefield hiking
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