Let's Take a Cruise, Seward Alaska Stye: The Estate Takes on Alaska

Copyright 2019, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

July 17, 2019

Before we start - - we had sun today, the first in about 2 weeks. We also had light smoke which looks like haze.  Most photos taken aboard a moving boat, who knows how fast.  It was bobbing as were some of the things/critters I was trying to photograph.  It's always about the light, it can be delightful on one side of the bay and marginally good on the other.  The light also makes the teal glacier water appear dark blue or teal, its all the light.  Sony III may have had camera and lens envy today when we saw peeps getting on board with big cameras and HUGE lens.  Frankly, I have NO idea how they held them still enough to get a photo, even those that had mono-pods or tri-pods.  There were times I could barely get a decent shot due to the rocking to and fro.  I have edited all of these photos, some for contrast, lightness, darkness, color correction, cropping, unlevel horizon and just over all tweaking.  But, I can only correct so much for the light, with my skills that is, professionals, I am sure, could do so much more.  Anyway - - It's always about the light.

Hope ya enjoy, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled Reflections blog.

Cruising. Today, we are going to cruise Resurrection Bay.  We have chosen a 5 hour tour that includes a very nice lunch and a presentation by a National Park employee about Kenai Fjords National Park.  There are much longer tours, however, we decided this one suited us.  And, it did.

The harbor (no cruise ships today).

Too pretty to not shoot.

Glaciers everywhere,  I believe they said there are about 40 around Seward.  I can only imagine what this place looked like 50 or 75 years ago before so much had melted away.

Our ride for the day - - 

Sea otters, bald eagle. Glaciers. Another bald eagle. 

The otters are cute, eh??  I took well over a dozen photos to get these two.  

I had a terrible time even finding the eagle to take the photo.  It's not a good photo, but, I saw him/her.

Lunch on Fox Island.  Nice presentation on the National Park by Robin.   

OK, if anyone knows what this plant is, let me know.  Thanks.

The beach was flat stones.  No sand, just flat stones.  Man spent many hours of his youth practicing the skill of skipping stones.  He had to try.  Still had the form.

I doctored up this photo to show you 4 "skip marks" from one skip.  I counted 4 several times, 6 a couple of times and one skip that "skipped" 7 or 8 times.  This was not an easy capture with Sony III. I am surprised this photo shows what it does!

Ice fields feed glaciers. Ice fields do not move. Glaciers do.   

Whale.   No tail showoff.  A few spouts and gentle breaching that showed just a bit of its back.

2 puffins.  This photo is of only 1.  

More puffins, flying around. Look like little helicopters with yellow wings.  I actually caught a couple in another photo I took, just a couple of blurs.

And, then came the geographical shapes.  Just lovely.  Like this little cave/tunnel.

A little wave action - - 

That green on the land, yes, it was that green.

Sea lions. 

A few last looks at the glaciers - -

See the blue in the ice of the glacier?

One last Sony III super zoom, ice, blue, glacier.

It was a wonderful day, just long enough, good food, calm waters, sun, blue sky.  Critters, teal water, glaciers and wonderful shapes.  It was a nice relaxing day.  We certainly are glad we did this trip and that Mother Nature provided us a glorious day to enjoy!

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