Day 7 July 10, 2022, Sunday

The next morning, we went to get Ron to take him to breakfast. As he got ready to leave his room, he told us he’d had a long talk with himself the night before and he’d decided he needed to go home. I can’t say that I was surprised. He told us he’d had intestinal difficulties the night before. I suspect that convinced him. No one wants to be on a bus or a boat and have that happen.

Goodbye to Ron

Everyone was sorry to leave him behind but I think we all agreed with his decision. He should have spent the day in bed with his foot elevated instead of going on the raft ride. Not that I think his staying at the hotel would have changed his final decision. If he’d stayed behind, he would have missed a raft ride on an iceberg-filled, misty lake. I’m glad he was able to do that.

At 7:30, the seven remaining tour guests got on a bus with Tom the guide, and Steve the bus driver leaving 76-year-old Ron at the hotel to figure out how to get back to Anchorage and a flight back to Pennsylvania. Even though it bothered me to leave him, I assumed that the hotel would do everything they could to get him to Anchorage and home. They didn’t want him unhappy enough to sue them. Not that Ron would ever do that, but they didn’t know that.

When said our goodbyes, I said “Be sure and use those airport wheelchairs.”

“I will,” he said.

Tern Lake

The drive to Seward was lovely. About an hour in, we stopped for a very stinky potty break at a park outhouse. I believe this was at Moose Pass. The lake was called Tern Lake.

Alaska.com describes it like this: Located at the intersection of the Seward and Sterling highways at Milepost 37. This area hosts a myriad of animals, birds, fish, and unique plants. Common loons, bald eagles, and arctic terns share the area with a variety of songbirds and shorebirds like the northern water thrush, golden-crowned sparrow, and the greater yellowlegs. Beavers, river otters, muskrats, and salmon ply the cold, clear waters of Tern Lake. Moose, Dall sheep, and mountain goats can be seen in the surrounding mountains.

The mountain reflected in the water as if it were a mirror. At the right angle, the entire mountain was reflected in the water. We saw and heard loons. I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to record the loon’s call on my birding app. Such a haunting call they have. We also saw geese and swans with cygnets.

Researchers

Tom led us down a narrow path to the water where we saw and met a scientist and a couple of graduate students. He told us they were doing research on stickleback fish in the lakes around the area and explained that most of those kinds of fish had died off in the lakes leaving a perfect environment for replacing the fish under different conditions making for a perfect natural experiment area. He told us he’d worked at the University of Alaska and lost his funding. Now, he is teaching at a university in Minnesota and continuing his research.

It was fun talking to them as we batted away mosquitos from our faces. I truly wished I’d worn the mosquito netting that Tom had given us at the beginning of the trip. Isn’t that how it always is? When you need something, it is back on the bus where you don’t need it.

On to Seward

We drove on towards Seward and passed Turnagain Arm. Tom explained how the bay got its name from some explorers having to turn again because it wasn’t going where they had hoped it would. Tom also explained the huge tidal changes in the bay.

Google says: Turnagain Arm was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame. Bligh served as Cook’s Sailing Master on his third and final voyage, the aim of which was the discovery of the Northwest Passage.

Arrived in Seward

Finally, the bus arrived at Seward and we disembarked, then identified our luggage for the tour boat person, Donna, so that she could put the Wilderness Lodge luggage tags on the correct bags. Each luggage tag had the cabin to which it should be delivered as the cabins were already assigned. When we got to Fox Island, the staff there took our bags to our rooms. Such nice service. We also got our tickets for the boat we were to board.

In the picture below, the orange tickets on the far left are our tickets for the boat, the Nunatak. The blue tags in the middle were the luggage tags. They say “Puffin” on them because that’s the name of the cabin John and I stayed in at the Wilderness Lodge. Finally, the round stickers were given to us after we kayaked in the bay. When we got home, I put the round stickers on the handwritten journal I’d kept on the trip. More on the kayaking later.

In Seward, we had some time to kill before the boat to Fox Island was to leave, so John and I found a shop where I bought a couple of more t-shirts for the grandkids. Below is a picture of the five t-shirts for Becky’s kids. I told her she’d have to decide who got which t-shirt. I wasn’t sure what the kids would like though Micah will get the Squid Acres shirt. It is the largest. I didn’t get the last shirts for the New Jersey grandsons until the last day we were in Anchorage.

We took a tour boat to Fox Island. John took a shot of me as I walked towards the boat.

Boat to Fox Island

Later, on the boat, he took this picture.

Yes, it was cold and I appreciated all the layers I had on.  When I packed that sweatshirt, I wasn’t sure I’d need it. I was certainly glad to have it here. We wore masks much of the time when we were touring. Tom had done a very good job of scaring us about not getting Covid on the trip. Maybe it worked. None of us caught it while we were in Alaska. One thing I realized about a mask in the cold; it keeps your face warmer than not having one.

Picture of mountains & bay

The boat was a large tour boat with lots of guests on it. We all disembarked on Fox Island. Most of the passengers would stay there a couple of hours, have lunch, and return to Seward. We, on the other hand, were guests at the Kenai Fiords Wilderness Lodge. Tom led our little group along the beach with some staff members and walked us past this sign and a rope to the lodge. We were the only ones staying at the lodge these two days.

Wilderness Lodge

It was such a beautiful place.

John and I found our room/cabin, which was one side of a duplex cabin with the Montrealer couple. I could hear much of what they said. Luckily, they spoke French, so I didn’t understand any of it. I don’t mean to be an eavesdropper but I am also a non-screener, so it is difficult for me not to listen. I learned about screeners and non-screeners in grad school. Some people don’t hear what is going on around them because they are more occupied by their own thoughts (John). Then there are those of us who are non-screeners and if we can hear a conversation, we will most likely listen to it whether we want to or not.

After visiting our room, we were invited back down the beach to the main lodge for lunch and after that a kayak trip. Lunch was incredible. The chef, Jessie came out of the kitchen and told us what she was serving. I didn’t think to take pictures or write down what we had until breakfast on the second day. All of the meals were gourmet-restaurant-level meals. What an amazing chef Jessie was.

Ocean Kayaking

After lunch, we went back to the public buildings on the island. Here we were outfitted with floatation devices, kayak skirts, and kayak paddles. We hauled all of that down to the rock-covered beach and the five double kayaks waiting for us on the beach. I chose the red one. Of course, I did. It took some effort to get into the kayak as it was kind of awkward and a tight fit. You sit on the edge behind the seat, then slide down into the seat. Getting the kayak skirt over the edges to stay dry was a challenge, but we did it with some help from our guides Matt and Cary. They had their own single kayaks.

Generally, the person who is heaviest sits in the back and steers. The person in front is in charge of telling the person in back where they are headed and suggesting course changes. That’s my kind of job! John sat in the back and I sat in front. We’d canoed before, so that part of it wasn’t new. The seats were adjustable so my feet could rest on posts and my knees were against the edge of the kayak. John had pedals for his feet that moved a rudder.

This was such a fun outing. I wasn’t sure I could do it, but the old canoeing muscle memory came back. At one point, I told John I felt that we were too far away from the group and then Matt, one of our kayak guides, called us back to be closer to them. Somehow in the rowing, John lost one of his pedals. Cary, the other guide sort of rescued it, but John said it never seemed to work right after that. Nevertheless, we prevailed.

Orcas

In the distance, Matt pointed out some orcas blowing. Matt said he thought there was a male, a female, and a young one. I could see the large dorsal fin of the orcas as they rolled up and down into the water. It was so thrilling to be on the water and know they were out there too. Luckily, the pod was way out there and never any threat to our little group.

However, speaking of threats, we also almost got run over by a tour boat. Our kayak guide had a radio which he used to talk to the tour boat captain. He asked the captain to not run over his kayakers and please not to go between us and the orcas because we were watching them as well. The captain did as our kayak guide requested and went behind our group. Days later at Brook’s Falls, Krista was talking to a man on the overlook while they watched bears and he told her that days earlier he was on a tour boat that almost ran over some kayakers. Ha! That was us.

Dinner

After the kayak jaunt, we went back to the lodge for an amazing dinner. Again, I don’t remember what it was and I’m sorry we did not take pictures of the meals we had there except for the last breakfast. They were incredible and delicious, each and every one of them.

At some point, Cathy and Karen decided to take off their shoes and socks and dip their toes in the water. They said it was cold and Tom got a shot of their antics. That view is just amazing.

There was no power in the cabins, but we did have charging stations and internet at the main lodge. John borrowed some batteries for his little fan from a staff member of the lodge. He said they lasted most of the night. At least it was enough to get to sleep.

Let me update the list of modes of transportation we’ve used on this trip:

• Jet plane
• Small shuttle bus
• Tourist bus
• Alaska train (and spur train)
• Ski plane
• Rubber raft
• Tour boat
• Kayak

Fitbit data for July 10: 9,219 steps, 3.6 miles, 1649 calories, 3 floors, 9 active minutes.

Next day: Privat boat tour of Resurrection Bay with views of Kenai National Park and