PeaceLoveSnowflakes : Sea Lions and Porpoises and Bears! Oh My!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Sea Lions and Porpoises and Bears! Oh My!

I thought this title was appropriate since this past weekend was Oz weekend back home at Beech :)

Today was a super fun day. Our new friend, Spenser, was nice enough to take us out on his boat for a little wildlife sightseeing adventure. We ended up seeing quite a bit of wildlife after all, but the whales remained out of sight. Just at the dock we saw a ton of jellyfish... apparently they are abundant around here. I even saw a sea star through the water on the boat ramp. Once out on the water, we saw a couple seals pop their head up in the distance, some porpoises jumping and playing around, sea lions being lazy, stinky (really stinky) bums on a bouy. We saw plenty of eagles.

Later in the day after we left, we decided to go see a movie and had a few hours to kill. We went out to the Mendenhall Glacier again just to look at the beauty of such a large, ancient river of ice. That thing is so crazy... it's hard to comprehend how massive it really is unless there are some kayakers playing around on the lake. Definitely wouldn't want to be too close to it when a ice chunk calves off... I bet it creates one hell of a splash. On our way back from the glacier, we saw a momma black bear and her two cubs crossing the road. I'm pretty sure it's the same family of bears that we saw the first time we went to the glacier. The little ones are so cute.

Lots of firsts today... first time out on the water that doesn't involve a ferry... first time seeing sea lions up close and personal... first time seeing some porpoises since we arrived, one of which surfaced right beside us... and um, a good lesson on making sure to pee before going out on a water adventure involving beer. Lets just say it's a good thing nobody on the shore had binoculars... or did they? :)

Here are some photos, but first watch this short but sweet video that Spenser put together of the sea lion encounter...