Capturing the Moment

  A bird flies overhead as we cruise past a hanging glacier, hidden high in the mountains until the view is revealed. Our first stop of this expedition trip was a visit to the glaciers in Kenai Fjords National Park. Not far out of the Alaskan town of Seward, our ship entered flooded valleys with cliffs and mountains rising thousands of feet on either side. At the end of each valley was a blue wall of ice, hundreds of feet high, disappearing off into the clouds beyond. Pieces of ice had fallen off the face of these glaciers and now bobbed around in the fjord. It was the perfect place to get out and explore more intimately by kayak and small boat. So that is exactly what we did. Our first stop was Holgate Glacier. It has several other hanging glaciers around it, that only reveal themselves from the proper angle. The birders onboard were thrilled with flocks of rhinocerus auklets, while everyone else enjoyed the playful seals and the stunning scenery. Waterfalls cascaded off the thous...

  Yep, its pretty beautiful out here. This is our counterparts on the skiff tour, in front of a hanging glacier. This morning we took our guests aboard the expedition ship Safari Explorer, deep into Kenai Fjords National Park, here in Alaska. It was day 1 of our brand new Aleutian Islands itinerary, where we spend 10 days going from Seward to Dutch Harbor. We will travel more than 800 miles, explore countless bays, share hiking trails with massive bears, and trade coastal temperate rainforest for wind strewn tundra. After bringing the guests from Anchorage to Seward, we met the Safari explorer in Seward harbor. After a quick boarding and drill, we cast off our lines and headed out on our inaugural Aleutian Islands trip. A regal looking bald eagle sat on the channel marker as we left the harbor, signaling good things to come. After a night of sailing we arrived in beautiful Kenai Fjords. The sound of ice, scraping down the side of the boat woke people from their peaceful slumber. I ...

  Kayking in Nassau Fjord in Prince William Sound. This scene reminded me of my time in Antarctica. In the southwest corner of Prince William Sound, Alaska, there is a place called Icy Bay. It was first explored by Joseph Whidby in 1794 and named by George Vancouver. Tiger glacier is at the end of the southern finger and Chenega glacier dominates the northern finger. Chenega Glacier is the second largest glacier in Prince William Sound, draining most of the Sargent Icefield. We spent the morning exploring Tiger Glacier by small boats called skiffs. We had fun exploring the waterfall-filled cliffs on the way up the fjord. Then we were surprised to find that the ocean in front of the glacier was frozen. There was sea ice packed from one side of the fjord to the other, making it impossible for us to get within a mile of the glacier. The scenery was still beautiful and lots of harbor seals were up on the sea ice with their pups. We did come across some sea otters and a flock of Barrow'...

  Today we entered into familiar territory for me. We woke up this morning to the cool breeze created by a massive tidewater glacier called Margerie glacier. Glacier Bay National Park itself it massive, at 3.2 million acres. Numerous glaciers tumble out of the 15,000ft mountain range which make the park. As these glaciers recede, more and more water is left in the fjords for us to explore by ship. This is how most people visit this park, but we are a little different. We wanted to make it off the ship for some kayaking adventuring to get closer to the action. Even though I have been in this park many times, leading tours just like this, I had never done activities at this glacier. And I've definitely never done this with my family! So I was pretty excited. I jumped in the back of a tandem kayak and my wife and son sat in the front. We kayaked along incredible steep walls, with waterfalls coming off, and nesting sea birds calling to each other as we passed. As we got closer to the g...