Day-by-day look at Alaska

We kept thinking that this trip couldn't possibly get any better, but the boat trip out of Seward to Kenai Fjords National Park exceeded all expectations. The terrific weather had a great deal to do with that perception. We had blue sky all day with sparkling calm seas. The captains of the various boats remarked once we were back ashore that it had been the best day of the summer.

Our captain was Steve Fink, a graduate of Ocean View High School here in Huntington Beach. His parents still live here and his brother Dave teaches in Costa Mesa. Steve worked in Hawaii for a number of years,  but once he found Alaska, he had found home. We can see why. The scenery in Alaska is even better than in Hawaii. For me, the cool Alaska summer temperatures make it a place I can enjoy. We experienced daytime August temperatures in the 60s, with nighttime lows in the 40s to 50s. Vic was bundled up in three to four layers of clothing most of the time, but I generally had on a T-shirt over jeans and a thin flannel shirt that I kept taking off because I was too warm.

We chose the nine-hour “captain’s choice” cruise out of Seward, which assured us of getting to see as much  wildlife as possible. We saw many sea otters, one of them fairly near the boat. It was eating a big Dungeness crab. We saw a couple of harbor seals and then stopped by a breeding colony of huge Stellar's sea lions. We lingered while big bulls and cows sunned themselves on a steep rock shelf. Their tiny pups tried hard not to slip off into the waves, failing miserably. The bottom tier of pups didn’t succeed in holding a purchase on the rocks for long. They struggled back ashore after each incoming wave. It looked very tiring for them.

Vic was in heaven with all the tufted and horned puffins, breeding colonies of black-legged kittiwakes and glaucous-winged gulls, common murres and other Alaskan bird specialties.

Because humpback whales had been sighted near Aialik Glacier, Steve changed course from our original destination to Northwestern Glacier to better our chances of seeing whales. We lingered in the bay where they had last been spotted, but didn’t find them. We headed on to the tidewater glacier, which was a stunning sight.