Seward 7th July 2010
It was then on to Seward. Seward is on Resurrection Bay and is known as the ‘playground of Anchorage’. It’s the equivalent of Batemans Bay for Canberrans – it’s even on the south coast. It was billed as a beautiful little seaside town but they obviously hadn’t seen Australian coastal towns. It wasn’t very beautiful. We finally hit real Alaskan weather. Cold, wet and windy. We didn’t mind the weather – perfect for sleeping and eating. After three weeks in Alaska we finally found good food. We went to a few great restaurants, including one that had the biggest collection of collector item liquor jugs in the US (or something). We spent quite a bit of time at the hardware shop and saw amazing things like giant fishing hooks. Didn’t know you could fish for Humpbacks.
On Good Friday 1964, Seward was wiped out by an earthquake. It was the second strongest ever measured. 131 people died and all the buildings were destroyed. If the earthquake didn’t get it, the tsunami did. They didn’t put a lot of effort into the beautification of the new town. The Buoy Tree was one of the prettiest things in town. We were amazed that people were still building on the edges of chasms. But there they were, perched on cliffs.
Another of our much anticipated parts of the trip were our two boat trips in Seward. A full day halibut fishing and a full day wildlife trip. We rang the two companies to confirm. Day two told us that the boat was broken on Friday. We could go out with them on Thursday but not Friday as it was broken. Yes. Same boat – not broken tomorrow, just the day after. So we cancelled that trip and changed the other to a combined wildlife/fishing trip. We realised that Friday was cruise ship day and far more money to be made with three crowded two hour trips than with a full day fishing trip. Great! Off we headed the next day on our fishing trip. To say the weather was terrible was a massive understatement. It was bad by ‘Deadliest Catch’ (the TV show about crab boats) standards. No boats could get out of the bay. We would stay in the bay and see how we went. We had already paid ($320 US each) and no refund was offered so off we went. No halibut fishing but maybe some salmon. Talk about a long eight hours! We both love boats, and really love a bit of movement, but the 3.5 metre swell was not fun. Neither of us usually gets sea sick…..well not usually. We both spent a bit of time examining the paint work on the side of the boat. Especially Sarah.
Between bouts of being sick we got to appreciate the Alaskan weather. It was cold! Not just the sleet that was driving into us, but the splashing ocean water was cold. Our pants wicked water up to the knees, shoes and socks were soaked, gloves and scarves too. Jackets were barely holding back the water and the wind was ripping through it all. Fair to say we were not well equipped for a day on the ocean in this weather.
We did get onto some fish. Sarah fought a good fight and landed a huge salmon. And taking a big fresh salmon to a restaurant and having it cooked for us was sweet indeed.
The trip did have its sensational parts. The humpbacks were out in force. The highlight had to be when a pair came up about 10 metres in front of the boat. The rolled, dove and slept there in front of us. We also saw a number of other things. Puffins and their rookery, sea-lions, otters and mountain goats. We saw many great flukes.
Our hotel was right on the waterfront, so within 2 minutes of the boat docking, Sarah was under the shower. Probably the ‘Best Shower Ever’. Raina waited for the fish to be filleted and was then into the shower. We slept well that night and our beds did roll quite a bit.
In the morning we packed up and bid farewell to Seward.
We called in to Exit Glacier on the way to Anchorage. Of course it was stunning. It was lucky we went because we finally got to see moose. We were beginning to doubt that wildlife actually existed on land in Alaska. Then of course, we saw more. The baby was very cute indeed. 
We hit Anchorage and, just to remain consistent, we shopped again. A last visit to Old Navy and to Sarah’s new favourite shop, Forever 21.
We found another great restaurant. A sports bar that had Rugby on the big screen. Two Aussie teams. Sensational! They had the most amazing steak bits wrapped in bacon. We dropped the car in and boarded our 1am flight to Vancouver Eh! So that was Alaska. Stunning, Raw and Red Necked! Next…….Japan.
This trip continues – Japan – Click here to go there.