Seward and Kodiak

Seward

Seward is an important port in Alaska due to the Alaskan rail road terminal, cruise ship terminal, coal terminal, and it once served as the gateway to the gold fields (Seward to Nome) or the Iditarod. “Seward, Alaska Starts Here!”

Today we decided to discover Seward’s picturesque side. Seaward is a town nestled on the shores of Resurrection Bay, where mountains rise majestically from crystal blue waters and the surrounding land has been carved by glaciers and polished by the sea. We decided to go off on our own and found a tour that would let us explore the Kenai Fjords, Bear Glacier, and Resurrection Bay. This tour by Renown Tours was not offered by the ship, but was magnificent! We found this tour by walking to a local Seward Information Center. You can also find information online by going to www.sewardinformaiton.com. We spent three hours on a catamaran, were giving powerful binoculars to borrow, drank unlimited hot drinks to keep us warm, and were even served a light lunch. We saw sea lions, otters, puffin’s, common murre, kittiwakes, bald eagles, and a school of Orca’s. This was an amazing journey and the pictures didn’t do it justice. We were in awe by how close we were able to get to the animals, especially the Killer Whales.

Even though we saw an amazing display of marine life, that wasn’t the most exciting lesson we learned today. Through hard work and determination, you can achieve anything you believe. This was a lesson learned by everybody who has travel on the M/V Spirit or with the Captain of that vessel. At the age of 16, the Captain lost both of his upper extremities due to a fire he was fighting when outfitted as a volunteer fireman. Since then, he has worked ever so hard to achieve a pilot’s license, drive race cars, sail all over the world in a small sail boat, and even command vessels through the unpredictable waters of the Gulf of Alaska. It clearly wasn’t an easy road to travel as seen by numerous articles, pictures, and letters from the U.S. Coast Guard in a scrap book about his life, but he has succeeded time and time again. He drove the large vessel with ease, even when entering and leaving the marina and slip which was lined by rocks and additional hazards. He did however warn us that we should not fall in the water while on his boating trip. He went on to explain that the only way he could bring us back on board was by poking us in our ears with his claws and lifting us to safety that was some great advice given to us by the captain! Captain Hooks will be remembered for a long time.

Kodiak Alaska

While being famous for huge Kodiak brown bears, we didn’t see any. This island is also one of the largest commercial fishing ports for the nation, it is home to the country’s largest Coast Guard Station, and is also known as Alaska’s Emerald Isle because of the magnificent color green the island turns during the summer.

Today we walked the town and explored different place of educational interests. Our first stop was to the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. At the visitor center, we learned about the Kodiak Bears and Salmon. Josh even shared lunch with a bear and tried some Salmon.

Then it was off to the Kodiak Fishery Research Center Aquarium and Touch Tank which was across the Fred Zharoff Bridge which sported great views of the town, ship, and Gulf of Alaska. Here we got to explore different sea creatures. We touch star fish, crabs, amoebas, and more. It was very interesting.

After a brisk walk back to town, the last educational site we explored was the Kodiak Island Brewing Company. This local company supplies various bars through Alaska with its famous brews. We even found out how beers become different colors? Do you know how/why? If so, write the answer in the blog as a comment and you could win a prize from our trip.