Hubbard Glacier and Seward, Alaska

After leaving Skagway we sailed overnight northward in the Gulf of Alaska. Our next destination is the Hubbard Glacier. Hubbard Glacier is a tidewater glacier in Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada. It was overcast and foggy the next morning. Chances of seeing the glacier were not good. We got up to the observation deck early and got a good seat to see the fog. As we slowly entered Disenchantment Bay the fog began to lift and about five miles away we began to see the glacier. As we got closer the sun began to shine on Hubbard’s 300 foot face wall. We closed to about 1500 feet and were able to spend about one hour at the glacier before sailing out of the bay and heading for Seward. Our onboard naturalist said we got closer than any other ship this season, can’t believe the beautiful blues of the ice. We are indeed blessed, what a site!
Seward is the northern most year round ice free port- city in Alaska and is located on the Kenai Pennisula . According to the sign as you enter the city the population is 3,016.
It was named after William Seward, Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. In 1867, he fought for the U.S. purchase of Alaska which he finally negotiated to acquire from Russia. The negotiations concluded on March 30, 1867 with the purchase price set at $7,200,000.00 or about 2.3¢ per acre for the 586,412 square miles.
Before taking a cruise of Resurrection Bay we visited The Alaska SeaLife Center, Alaska’s only public ocean wildlife rescue center and is located on the shores of Resurrection Bay in Seward. The Sealife Center was founded after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 to take care of distressed sea life. After the Sealife Center we loaded in a boat to see Resurrection Bay. Resurrection Bay is a bay on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. Its main settlement is Seward, located at the head of the bay. It received its name from a Russian ship, which was forced to retreat into the bay during a bad storm on Easter Sunday . The bay offers spectacular views on the way to the fjords, we encounter sea-lions, seals, whales, and saw cliffs polluted with the droppings of all kinds of magnificent birds. The Puffins were amazing. Puffin are predominantly black or black and white plumage, a stocky build, and large beaks. They shed the colorful outer parts of their bills after the breeding season, leaving a smaller and duller beak. Their short wings are adapted for swimming with a flying technique under water. In the air, they beat their wings rapidly.