Boat Tour

Robert, Tuesday, August 19
Today was the boat tour. Parking in Seward is a problem so the tour company has a parking lot that is a little out of the way and they run a shuttle bus. We had to be at the parking lot at 8:00 a.m. That meant we had to get up at 6:00 (ouch). It was still dark (actually twilight) at 6:00. We stopped at the Safeway on the way to buy Dramamine as they weather was supposed to be rough. We got to the parking lot, rode the bus to the check-in, and had to read the policy about bad weather. It said we could get a full refund if we decided to cancel and if we went and the boat had to turn back we would get a partial refund. We decided to go for it. We got on the boat at 8:30 and we left at 9:00. On board we got a continental breakfast and soon we were underway. The trip lasted until 5:00 so lunch was also included. We saw harbor seals, sea otters, a bald eagle, puffins, two black bears, and three humpbacked whales. We also saw one of the glaciers that emerge for the same ice field as the Exit Glacier. We have seen many glaciers and in truth, they all look pretty much the same. However, this is the first time I have ever seen a glacier calve. We saw chunks break off 8-10 times in the 30 minutes or so we watched. It was a great day. When we got back to the trailer, we finished the leftover flank steak for dinner and hit the sack early as we got up early.