Sunday June 17. We left Talkeetna after breakfast in mild and sunny conditions for the 5 hour drive to Seward (this included many photo stops as it is a very scenic drive). We arrived at our hotel, The Holiday Inn Express in time for a late lunch (2pm). Our hotel is right on the harbour front - the marina has many small boats as well as cruise ships - the HAL Zaandam was in port. After lunch we spent the afternoon checking out the town and the local grocery store planning our shopping required for our upcoming stay in Orca Cabins which are self-catering. For dinner we ate at the restaurant right next to the hotel, the Chinook Waterfront, which is very casual but served excellent fresh salmon and halibut.
Monday June 18.
We had a bit of a lazy start with a 10am departure for an all day Kenai Fjords cruise - the day started out cool (<60F) and overcast but no rain. The boat was a designed-in-Sydney catamaran and looked like an ex-Great Barrier Reef boat - it was built in 1985. Fortunately it was only about 60% full so we had plenty of space. As the day went on the weather cleared to a fine and sunny day. We saw: a group of about 6 humpbacks "bubble feeding", a very rare sight according to the the national parks on board ranger, sea otters, orcas, lots of puffins and other sea birds, bald eagles, more humpbacks, harbour seals, dall porpoises, sea lions, goats, ...
The lunch was an all you can eat prime rib and salmon buffet - Dieter had the beef which he said was excellent; I had the salmon with was overcooked. We stopped right in front of a couple of glaciers floating amid tons of icebergs - the crew scooped up a chunk of glacier ice and served "glacier margaritas" at $4 a pop - excellent - I know because I had one - Dieter stuck to Alaskan beer which he seems to like. We saw a group of kayakers paddling amongst the ice - we later checked and found such excursions cost $400 pp per day.
Back at home - we loaded our photos and deleted the many bad ones then went for dinner at Ray's Waterfront restaurant just a 3 minute walk from our hotel. Dieter had halibut and I went for another feed of Alaskan king crab legs at $42 for a 1 pound serving (or $52 for 1.5 pounds).
Tuesday June 19.
It was off to Orca cabins today. After breakfast Dieter did the grocery shopping while I re-packed our luggage. We had time to spare before our 12:15 departure so we went to the Seward Marine Park where we saw puffins up close and personal - got some great photos. Then we drove to Exit Glacier, about 15 k's away and did a very short walk.
We boarded our "water taxi" to Orca cabins located in Humpy Cove in Resurrection Bay (just south of Thump Cove) about 1 hour by putt-putt from Seward. The owners/operators of Orca Cabins are a husband and wife couple, Susan and Dennis. We traveled over with 2 other couples who had just completed a 4 day kayak trip. Our cabin (one of 5) was pretty basic particularly considering the price of $400 - you have to self cater, even your ice. There is no electricity - only gas cooking and hot water. It turned out our water tank was almost empty so the owner told us to take "marine" showers until he could bring more water the following day - this put me off no end particularly considering the yurt beside us was not occupied and had a full tank.
There is essentially nothing to do here except kayak, fish or sit on your deck - overlooking the water - nice if the sun is shining and it's not too cold. We were lucky as the sun was shining but it was pretty cool with a light breeze.
We lazed about in the afternoon - then had an excellent meal of bbq'ed steak, grilled red pepper, roast potatoes with shallots and garlic and corn on the cob and of course some good wine, an Oregon Pinot.
Wednesday June 20.
We slept pretty well considering that you could not block out the midnight sun from the skylight in our yurt. It was an overcast day with no breeze to speak of so it felt a bit warmer than the previous afternoon. Breakfast was a berry feast and yoghurt. Off our deck we saw a sea lion catch a giant fish - he was then harassed by seagulls who wanted a share. Dieter also saw another sea lion, a harbour seal and porpoises.
We went out kayaking for 2 hours later in the morning - it was totally calm but still cloudy and cool. We say many sea birds and 2 seals and 2 waterfalls as well as starfish. Back at our yurt we had lunch - bacon and eggs for Dieter, tomato and bacon samba for me. We hung about our yurt in the afternoon - reading etc then had a repeat of the previous night's dinner menu.
Thursday June 21.
It was back to Seward at 11am then on the road again for the 4+ hour drive to Homer. As luck would have it the weather was perfect - sunny and high 60'sF. We had lunch just outside Seward at the Windsong lodge which is on the road to the Exit Glacier.