Alaska Day 14

Today was to be a day of rest with little or no flying. The weather was splendid. The scenery was divine. At Doug's suggestion we had made the decision the night before to stay put another day, instead of flying somewhere north toward our next destination, Talkeetna. In truth it was just too beautiful to leave, even though we'd seen a good bit of the area the day before.

Doug who said this had to be a working vacation for him, said he could use the day resting and catching up on his many business duties and issues. To his credit he never missed a flying adventure, sightseeing activity, or meal with the group. :) He just wandered off to make or take phone calls here and there, and was up late at night or early in the morning using his mobile office of phone, laptop, and regular size computer screen :) to take care of business matters. His partner wanted him to have a satellite communication device so he could be reached, and we did, but that wasn't used too many times. All in all, it was a miracle he could join us for the adventure and we were all very happy about that! He was too!! He was a full fledged participant doing his share of flying and everything else.

But today he would devote the whole day to business matters from a beautiful location. Dwayne would take a sightseeing boat tour around Resurrection Bay to hopefully see whales and other sea life and glaciers from water level. And just be out on the water in the Gulf of Alaska which figures so large in Alaskan life and culture. Ken & Shep decided that they would fly to Homer for lunch, and flight see on the way there and back. We reconvened for supper downtown Seward and everyone had had a wonderful day. :)

Since we were on our own for the day, I can only report on some of the sights I saw and impressions from the boat. I met some interesting folks and had nice conservations here and there. I took every piece of warm weather clothing I had in my back pack and used it all at one time or another. :) I saw lots of wildlife and sea life. The seas were smooth, the coffee was hot from the galley, and life was good. That's a summary.

To be a little more specific, we saw sea lions, eagles, puffins, whales, otters, and many other sea birds of the north. And when we arrived at the glacier destination for calving, we almost immediately saw a huge, huge mass of ice fall from the glacier crashing into the sea below with a monster splash. We were reasonably close but the boat was still running and slowing to a stop to drift, so I didn't hear it. Then we drifted about 30-40 minutes with no other calving observed. But it was very pleasant and awesome to just be there. And the sunny day we had with unlimited visibility could not be taken for granted. When I looked around I saw a major water fall gushing out from beneath the glacier maybe ten feet above sea level. It was probably a hundred feet across with a flow of many thousands of gallons a minute I'm sure, and I'm also sure, very, very cold. :)

We Passed the Wizard of "Deadliest Catch" Fame

In fact there were waterfalls all around running down cliff faces from glaciers. The sea was emerald green with big chunks of white ice floating all around and out to sea. Certainly something you don't see every day and I couldn't even imagine properly without being there.

At the end of the day we met at our hotel rooms, took a taxi downtown to a highly acclaimed halibut and steak restaurant, and after dinner walked back to the harbor and our hotel home for the night. Over the delicious dinner everyone shared about their day, and life certainly was good... north in Alaska.




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Lunch and Hanging Out - Homer Alaska

The Salty Dawg Saloon Since 1897- Homer AK

Framed Again... Alaskan Style