Seward to Soldatna

We have left Seward for a couple of days as this was the only date we could get in to Silver Salmon Creek Lodge for the Bear viewing. I contacted SSLC on 16 June last year and they were already full for my dates.  Luckily I could change around our other arrangements to go on a different day. 

We had breakfast at the Holiday Inn - a basic buffet with hot and cold options but not gourmet by any standards - followed by a visit to the Sealife Centre.  We are a bit spoilt in Sydney with our Aquarium but the area with the puffins is great ( I took so many photos of birds I thought of dedicating this post to Rob and Jan).

Puffins

King Eider:

Obligatory arty shot

  

Diving puffin

Who's tickling me?

An easy beautiful drive got us to Soldotna where we had lunch from Odie's Deli at a park overlooking Kenai river. Great food, but do yourself a favour and only get a half sandwich - the size of a large normal sandwich back home!

Lake Kenai

This afternoon we had some down time before a busy day tomorrow - we will be flying to Lake Clarke National Park, saying at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge.  The owners have a unit in Soldotna which is available for rent the night before a flight.  It is a fourplex with a couple of bedrooms and feels a lot more homely than all the hotels we have been staying in - perfect to relax with no pressure to sight see!

Dinner takeaway from Firehouse BBQ for Ribs - great smokey flavour. 

PS I found the whiskey - only Chivas available - oh well

All that ice ... where is the whiskey?

Another day where superlatives will be bandied about.  An early start for a long day.  We had to meet at the Kayak Adventures Worldwide office at 7.15am.  We were kitted up with lifejackets and checked we had enough layers as the day was going to be drizzly the whole day.  We boarded the water taxi with a dozen other people who were also on kayaking trips with other guides.

As James was 12 we had a guide all to ourselves - Angie ( now I've got that song stuck in your head too). The water taxi ride took over two hours to get to the launch point but along the way we were also wildlife watching - we stopped for everything.  Wild life count - Bald eagle - check; otters - check; harbour seal- check; Dall's Porpoise - check, sea lion - check; puffins- check; wild goats - check; and several whales - check.  Photography was not the easiest due to rain and fogging so please forgive some of the examples!

We embarked on our kayaking from a pebble beach near Slate Island a few miles from Aialik Glacier.      

This is a tidal glacier arising in the Harding Ice-field  with a face of 1.2miles, but looks can be deceiving. James and Andrew were in one kayak whilst I was with Angie.

The pace was leisurely but steady and we made our way through small icebergs all calling out for whiskey to join them.  We hung around the base of the glacier listening to the calving and occasionally seeing it while being watched by the many harbour seals curious to see who had invaded their territory.

 Our kayaks joined together and Angie produced sandwiches (roast beef, lettuce and tomato) and hot chocolate with us watching the magical scenery.  We turned around to come back and returned via the other side of Slate Island.  We arrived back after 4hrs to have just missed out on seeing a bear at the beach - oh well we will get our chance in a couple of days.  We loaded our gear back onto the taxi and rode back via a few more whales and some rough seas.  Having said that, whilst the weather was drizzly and cold the whole day we did not notice it when kayaking - we were bundled up and had great waterproofs.  The taxi is heated so we warmed up well for the trip home, arriving at Seward at 5.30pm.

We were all tired at the end of the day and Thai take away was recommended by the guides - Woodies ( authentic Thai name) - plenty of tasty food.

Travelling to Seward

We left our cosy Bed and Breakfast behind after a proper American Diner Breakfast

A visit to the Reindeer Farm turned in an unexpected feeding time.

Solving the itch problem.

We broke up the drive to Seward with a stop at Thunderbird Falls just North of Anchorage

"Squirrel" - "Up" reference

On the way down Turnagain Arm we coincided with the Bore Tide ( see the title photo).  Some people with paddle boards were attempting to surf the wave - some more successfully than others.

Being a Sunday the road works were not delaying traffic so I can recommend doing the long roads on a weekend if at all possible.  We were held up on Friday for 20mins at one spot so you can loose a lot of time.  On the up side there is a law that requires cars/ RV"s to pull over if you are delaying 5 cars - very sensible.

We arrived in Seward just as the days catch was being pulled in

We are staying at The Holiday Inn Express.  Great location but more of a motel in class. We have managed to get some washing done - hopefully to last the rest of the trip (?)

Dinner at Chinooks - a seafood restaurant - to test out my facial dermatitis ( for wine , not seafood).  So far so good!