Kenai Fjords Boat Tour

On Tuesday we took a boat tour on the Kenai Fjords tour line. This was a 6 hour tour of beautiful scenery, critters and a great boat ride on a 150 passenger catamaran (think large). 

This video shows us surfing back to harbor on swells of several feet.
Kenai Fjords Tour from Bill Holt on Vimeo.

This video gives you an idea of what the scenery looked like from the boat.

Kenai Boat Tour Looking Back from Bill Holt on Vimeo.

Here is some of the wildlife we saw while on the boat tour.

This sea otter was just lounging around while we passed by.

He took a quick glance in our direction...

...and laughed out loud at all the land creatures pretending to float on the water.

Black-legged Kittiwake

Stellar Seals

Watch as this pup crawls over mom, disturbing everyone

Black-legged Kittiwake

Northern Lights

It is not possible to capture the Aurora Borealis in a photo as it appears when you are watching. They constantly shift and move, change colors and orientation. Often they look like rain falling in sheets. An open shutter speed of about 5 seconds or longer is needed to capture enough light. That blurs the activity but still results in really neat pictures. Here are some of the shots from our best night.

Finally, a video time lapse of what we were seeing. You might want to click on HD and select 4k or one of the really high resolutions. Also, select full screen.


Aurora Time Lapse from Bill Holt on Vimeo.

Scenes Along The Way

Nearly everywhere you turn there is a reason to raise the camera and snap some shots. It makes for slow travel in an already very large state. Here are a few of the sights that have slowed us down.

Nan's dad worked for the Alaska Railroad back in the 40's when they lived here

Mount Wrangle, near Glenallen, Alaska. You can see it for more than an hour before finally getting close.

Moonrise in Alaska. It never gets very high in the sky.

Denali

Denali National Park is host to the highest mountain in North America. Formerly called Mount McKinley, Denali stands 20,310 feet. It is snow covered year-round and usually shrouded in clouds. Park officials state that only about 25% of visitors to the park ever see the mountain. We were blessed to see the mountain on 2 different days. Here is an awesome view of "the high one," the meaning of Denali. Notice the snow that is being blown off the top of the mountain.

Denali is part of a large range of mountains in Alaska. Here is a wider view of a portion of the range.

Denali National Park is also host to numerous species of wildlife. The park has a shuttle service that takes visitors into the park. Except for 4 days per year when cars are allowed, visitors can only access the park beyond mile 15 (of 90) via the shuttle service. This controls access to the park and keeps it nearly pristine. Shuttle drivers are on the lookout for wildlife and will stop and let riders view animals from the bus. Here are a few that we saw on the trip.

Caribou

Grizzly eating blueberries

Dall Sheep - approximately 2 miles away. Shot with a 500mm lens

Northern Hawk Owl - a new life bird for me

Willow Ptarmigan

The Willow Ptarmigan, like the spruce grouse below, blends in well with its surroundings, doesn't it? 

Beaver - not seen in Denali

Red Squirrel

The prize from the trip, at least for me, was the bull moose we saw late one evening. I've been trying for years to photograph a bull moose with a full rack. This year I accomplished that goal. He's a looker!

Those white antlers are visible a mile away yet moose manage to remain hidden most of the time. This male was quite impressive. Jeff and I, along with another park visitor, estimated his rack to be 60" wide.