Day 26 Seward, Alaska

 Seward is one of the most beautiful places on the planet and everything we imagined Alaska to be AND we certainly hit the jackpot again today weather wise.  It was glorious, with full sun all day long and around 8 degrees.  We docked at 8am and when I woke at 8.30 Philip was already dressed and ready to head into town.  It didn't take me long to drink my coffee and we were off the ship by 9.30 to board the shuttle bus that would take us into the town centre.

It is a gorgeous town and the buildings are reminiscent of the ones you see in the movies relating to the gold rush era and indeed, in the beginning, that is how the settlement of Seward was established but the building of the railway line firmly entrenched Seward. The town with a population of around 3000 sits nestled against the backdrop of the Kenai mountain range on Resurrection Bay that is a stunning fjord on the Gulf of Alaska.

We were dropped off in the centre of town and we made our way to the foreshore, stopping and gawking at the magnificent mountains every few steps!  There is a pathway right around the bay and we were amazed that campers are allowed to freely park anywhere they like along the waters edge.  In Australia we call it "free camping" but I have never seen any free camps as eye watering beautiful as this is.

The walk back to the ship was around 5kms but it was an easy level surface and as I said, we took our time taking many pictures along the way.  We were back on board the ship by 11 and had time for a late breakfast before once again making our way back to the dock to board our ship for our chosen tour - Exit Glacier and Sealife Centre.

Unfortunately, due to large snow falls in the past couple of weeks we could not get to the point where we could walk to the glacier.  Ice was till blocking the road.  So the bus stopped at a viewing area and we did get a good view of Exit Glacier.  It is a rapidly receding glacier and we didn't get to see the blue ice because it was still covered in a thick layer of snow.  We just have to imagine how it would look in a couple of months as the snow melts.

On our return trip to Seward the guide pointed out one of the bald eagles nests.  The nests are huge and they look so unstable.  The eagles weren't in the nest but content to be flying high above the nest riding the air currents.

We were dropped off at the Seward Sealife Centre on our return to Seward and we quickly made our way to the tanks to watch the sea lions frolicking in their tanks.  I swear they just want to entertain the crowds with all their rolls and flipper waves!  One of the tanks holds a huge male sea lion that they call Steller and he weighs in at a massive 2174 lbs or 986 kg.  

We have loved every single moment of today in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Tomorrow we have a day at sea where we will be cruising the Hubbard Glacier.  Our guide told us today that we will certainly be impressed by this huge glacier that is one of the biggest in the world at 75 miles long or 120km.