After approaching the national park from the east by land yesterday (Exit Glacier), we took the much touted boat tour to explore the southern glacier-cut fjords. When you see photos of humpback whales breaching in Alaska, they are often taken around Kenai Fjords. Well, we weren’t lucky enough to see them breaching, but we did see several backs of whales and a few flukes–and other wildlife as well.
We spent 7.5 hours traveling 130 miles along the coast, visiting two tidewater glaciers. Most exciting was Aialik (I-al-ik). Check out the two videos. In the first you can hear the melting glacier creaking and popping (sounded like gun shots) as it melts.
In the second, you can see a small part of the glacier calving (icebergs breaking off of the glacier).