Alaskan Adventures - 4/4

Finishing up our adventure, we did a quick 2 hour stop at the Hubbard Glacier. It was incredible to see - not just the glacier, but the surrounding mountains as well. The calm waters were littered with ice chunks that had calved off the stunning blue and white glacier and it was really awesome to see. We were able to get relatively close - close enough to hear the thundering cracks as the sun melted the snow causing big chunks of the glacier to fall into the sea. As a geology/geography nerd I’ve always loved this kinda shit. The natural world is majestic as hell and we don’t take near enough care of her as we should.

The following day, we landed at our final port - Sitka, Alaska. It was here that I decided to partake in the Otter tour, but to be honest, my favorite part was actually just being on a boat with the wind hitting my face and the beautiful landscape surrounding us. We did end up seeing a few whales, but those are more conducive to video than photography if you ask me. And to be honest, I felt bad when we saw the whale….he was just out there enjoying his day and then all of a sudden he was being chased by a boat full of tourists - I could almost feel his stress levels from where I stood. Thankfully, we didn’t spend too much time there and instead, circled back to the little rock formations where groups of otters hung out, wrapping themselves and their pups in seaweed to prevent floating out to sea, and rubbing their faces. Otters are one of my most favorite animals so I was so pleased to just coast by them and using my telephoto lens (it could have been longer) I managed to get some photos of their little layabouts. In addition to that, we saw some sea lions fighting for top spot on a buoy as well as a few eagles and their nests. I did get a bit of a sunburn on my face, but it was worth it to be outside with the Alaskan wild! All in all, the trip went by super fast but also gave me a lot of space to reflect, read, meditate, and write. I will have posts about what I learned through all of that later on after my next big trip - but for now, I just wanted to share a wee bit of this journey!