out to seward for a boat ride..

this is a mom and baby humpback. we'd been watching them from afar when suddenly they came up right next to our tour boat. i told sandra, who was with me, that the mom just told the kid...lets come up right by the boat, the tourists will get thier pictures and then the boat will leave us be. they came up suddenly so i didn't have time to react. after doing this trip i'm missing my zoom on my film camera. the zoom that came with this camera only goes to 250 and my old zoom went to 300. may have to find a way to rectify that.

we decided to head to seward for thier spring grey whale migration boat trips. we didn't see any grey whales and suspec they often don't, but we did see at least 4 humpbacks, a few otters, seals and a group of sea lions. in addition we passed some mountain goats that were settled fairly low on the mountain, a black bear who was out wandering the shore and of course, eagles, puffins, cormorants and guilliants. (that last one is spelled wrong)

there was some rain and some wind. the water wasnt' too bad in parts and at one point it was really bad. we were rolling pretty good. i just sat on the deck...a bit worried i must say. our captain had two hooks for hands. not sure what happened to his original hands. i gotta give him credit for piloting a boat with fake hands. admittedly i was happy there was a co-pilot. the eagle above was seen as we returned to seward. it was hovering in the wind.

here it hovers over an immature eagle. there were several out there, eagles i mean.

pictures are loading slowly so that is all i'll load for now. will try again later so that i get the bear and sea lions posted as well. despite the poor weather it was great to get out on the water and a great way to start off, "summer". the only other drag was that the kid next door didn't come over to let the dogs out like he'd promised when i had gone over the day before to ask. grr..pool pups were stuck inside all day. i did walk them 1.6 miles in the hood before i left, but it really isn't enough.

off to start another day....hopefully do a walk at potter to mchugh with sandra and maybe head down the road towards girdwood. we saw sandhill cranes out there coming to and from seward...sandra didn't want to stop. maybe they'll still be there. probably resting en route towards fairbanks. have also seen a swan this week at potters.

i'd also like to swim....still a bit sore from my week but good to get out there. did 35 laps again, several with the kickboard to focus on my leg work.