RV ALASKA - Livin' the Dream!

No, not us.  Otter.  Otter’s livin’ the dream.  Truthfully, Alan and I are livin’ the dream, too, but this story is about Otter.

Based upon my trip-planning research, I had already booked reservations for a full week in Seward.  Following the day trip Alan and I took down to the port city during the week we were camped at Cooper Landing, we decided to add three more days, giving us a total of 10 nights on a waterfront site on Resurrection Bay.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much we enjoyed Seward, but I’m going to try.  First, though, let’s get back to Otter.

Resurrection Bay is a fjord on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula that extends 18 miles in from the Gulf of Alaska.  The marine life is plentiful here.  From our camp chairs overlooking the bay, our picnic table or the comfort of our recliners facing out the big back window, Alan and I were spotting eagles, seals sea lions and otters regularly.  One otter, in particular, captured our attention and our affection.  It was fascinating to us that we could pick him out from other otters due to his coloring and his style of diving underwater.  Fun facts (sorry, I just have to share): Sea otters spend most of their lives in the water, and much of their time floating on their backs, eating.  They can grow up to five feet long, with males averaging 80 to 100 pounds, and females averaging 50 to 70.  To stay warm and fuel their high metabolism, they consume 20% to 25% of their body weight every day.  (Just imagine how much food we’d be eating if we did that!)  A sea otter’s diet consists of sea urchins, crabs, clams, mussels, octopus and fish, and they’re one of only a few mammals known to use tools.  Sea otters will keep a rock under their armpit while diving, and use it to crack open any hard-shelled seafood they find.  They generally dive for one to two minutes, but can stay under for up to five.  They have the densest coat of any mammal, and live for 15 to 20 years.  Their predators are killer whales and bald eagles. 

Our favorite otter spent an extraordinary amount of time floating on his back following a successful fishing expedition, enjoying his delicacies from the sea.  Otter paddled around the bay like he didn’t have a care in the world, with his big, webbed hind feet sticking up in the air as he munched and drifted.  Wakes from fishing boats rocked him mercilessly, noisy airplanes and helicopters crisscrossed the bay above him, ruthless sea gulls plotted to steal his food, eagles flew directly overhead, skies would darken and drop rain on him, commercial tour boats would stop so their passengers could ogle him – none of this bothered Otter at all.  He was in his own happy little world, oblivious to the chaos going on around him, and we decided that Otter was livin’ the dream.  Life was good in “Otterville” – and the name stuck.  Here we are, weeks later, and hardly a day goes by that Alan and I don’t wonder how Otterville is doing.  That little critter wormed his way right into my heart, and I miss him terribly. 

Date(s) – July 26th – August 4th   

Total Miles Traveled to Date – 12,036

Wildlife Sightings to Date – Here’s the tally of wildlife sightings for the entire 10 days we were in Seward: 2 swans, 13 seals, 5 sea lions, 15 otters and 31 eagles.

So, our current count for wildlife sightings is: 93 eagles (including 2 fledglings); 4 seagull chicks; 10 swans (including 2 fuzzy cygnets); 8 sea lions; 26 seals; 17 sea otters; 3 cow moose; 1 bull moose; 1 grizzly sow with 2 cubs; 1 back end of a grizzly bear; 6 black bears; 1 coyote; 1 snowshoe hare; 3 rabbits (including one very fast bunny that just managed to cross the road safely); several small herds of bison with at least 2 dozen young calves; 9 deer (2 of them bucks with their racks covered in velvet); 9 mountain goats (including 3 tiny and adorable kids); 23 bighorn sheep; 62 elk (including 7 calves that hadn’t yet lost their spots and a number of bull elk with full racks covered in velvet); several small herds of pronghorn antelope (including 2 mamas with 3 newborn fawns between them); 3 great blue herons; dozens of American white pelicans; at least a half dozen families of adult geese with goslings; and several dozen ducks (with lots of little ducklings).

Highlights – Since we spent so many days in Seward (and since we had such a good time there), it will take at least two posts to share our adventures and list the highlights.

First of all, the drive from Palmer to Seward (down the Parks Highway to Anchorage, then along the Seward Highway) was gorgeous, despite the gray and gloomy miles along Turnagain Arm.  Again.  (The photos, below, of the wildflowers and mountains outside of Seward were taken on the day of our reconnaissance mission - a sunnier day, for sure.)  The mountains, lakes and rivers are just so impressive.  Despite a delay due to construction (and the terribly bumpy road that accompanied that stretch of highway), we enjoyed the drive immensely.

We spent all 10 nights of our stay in the Marathon Campground, one of Seward’s municipal campgrounds, backed up to Resurrection Bay with an amazing view of the bay and the mountains that encircle Seward.  (More on the campground later.)  With the water just steps from our campsite, we had a bird’s eye-view of what was happening in the bay.  And there was a lot happening.  We spent much of our time scouting for marine life from the comfort of the trailer or our camp chairs.  Of course, Otterville’s charm had endeared him to us, but sightings of seals and sea lions were common, too.  When our family had traveled to Alaska previously, we had all enjoyed a sea life boat tour excursion out of Juneau, and Alan and I had considered a similar tour while we were in Seward.  If we hadn’t already had the experience, we definitely would have booked one in Seward.  After spotting so many marine mammals from the comfort of home, though, we decided to forego another tour.  We had noticed that the waters of the bay became a bit rougher in the afternoon when the tour boats were on their way back to the harbor, and that some of the boats were a little too crowded for our taste.  So, we passed on a paid tour, and just enjoyed the ever-changing view from our campsite.  That being said, those tours provide a fabulous experience.  In fact, the lovely woman staffing the Seward Visitor Center shared that the guests on at least one of the tours that week had seen whales bubble-feeding.  If you’ve never enjoyed a sea life boat tour, don’t let our decision keep you from experiencing one yourself.  We definitely consider them to be worthwhile, and I can’t imagine booking an excursion like that in a better place than Resurrection Bay.

One of our greatest pleasures was watching Otterville livin’ the dream.  How one single sea otter could provide so much entertainment is beyond me.  But, day after day, we’d be scanning the bay with binoculars, hoping to catch a glimpse of him – and we did spot him on most days.  One day, though, we saw a much more realistic picture of marine life.  As we were soaking up the sun on one of the few days it actually decided to shine, Alan spotted a sea lion close to shore, with a large number of sea gulls circling the air above him and floating nearby.  The sea lion was fishing and, as we watched, he caught what we believe to be a large halibut.  As I mentioned in a previous post, halibut can grow to well over 100 pounds.  The sea lion had clamped the fish in his jaws, and was viciously swinging his head back and forth, whipping the halibut to and fro, then grabbing large chunks of the fish to swallow.  It was a violent tussle, and Alan could tell that the halibut was heavy enough to require a concerted effort on the sea lion’s part to handle the fish.  Sea gulls were diving in to steal pieces of halibut the sea lion had dropped, and Alan noticed that one of the birds was actually pink from the amount of blood in the water.  (Yes, indeed, halibuts do have blood in their systems.)  By chance, we witnessed something we had never seen before, and may not ever again.  The natural world, with its never-ending cycles of life and death, is utterly fascinating.

The eagles in the area were pretty fascinating, too.  On some days, we wouldn’t see them at all; on others, they were around and about for most of the day.  Their favorite perches seemed to be the posts left behind in the water from former piers of some type.  There were some right near our campsite and others a bit farther down the shoreline; the eagles liked all of them.  One day I watched one eagle hop from post to post in an Alaskan version of “The Three Bears.”  Eventually, he found one that was just right, and that’s where he stayed for quite a while.  Eagles make a variety of sounds, and it was interesting to hear them chittering from the posts or the nearby trees very early in the morning before most folks in the human world were up and about.  Alan and I both find eagles to be magnificent, and we never get tired of seeing them soar by overhead.  Their wingspan is amazing and their grace in flight is impressive.  I’m pretty sure one had landed on our trailer one morning when I was up before Alan, and enjoying my morning coffee.  I heard a thump on the roof.  Then, a moment later, an eagle flew out toward the water from the top of the trailer, and I actually saw a small feather drift toward the ground.  I was hoping our trailer was just a brief stop on the eagle’s way to his or her favorite post in the water, but I did check the roof later to be sure there wasn’t an abandoned bird carcass up there.  Eeewww!  Who wants that on their roof?!

Aside from checking the roof for bird carcasses, making an occasional run down to the grocery store for milk and hitting a couple of area attractions, we pretty much did nothing all week but watch the marine life and the activities going on near the port and harbor.  With a pair of binoculars at hand, the marine radio on and the marinetraffic.com website pulled up to identify commercial boats, we spent many happy hours just observing what was going on around us.  I’ll cover more about that in the next post, but, in sticking with the marine life theme of this group of highlights, I’ll mention one other highlight before moving on.

One day, Alan and I biked down to the Alaska SeaLife Center for a visit.  The SeaLife Center is not really a zoo or an aquarium.  It’s really a research facility, and that’s apparent in both the style and quality of their exhibits.  Their touch tank exhibit is probably the best I’ve ever seen, and the staff members (or volunteers?) who were manning it were warmly welcoming and extremely knowledgeable.  This organization is all about education and good stewardship.  Its members are active in caring for rescued sea mammals, and I believe they have some type of SeaLife camp for children, too.  It was definitely a worthwhile attraction, and we were glad we went.  That being said, we both thought the entrance fee was steep ($33.00 per adult), and chalked it up to basically making a donation to the cause of marine research.

We really enjoyed the time we spent in Seward and, truth be told, probably would have stayed longer if we could have.  There are plenty of more highlights to share – watch for them in the next post.

Lowlight(s) – I know Alan’s going to laugh when he sees this noted as a lowlight, but I was really worried about Otterville!  One day, after eating his favorite sea delicacies to his heart’s content, he took a nap.  It was pretty obvious he was napping because he wasn’t moving at all.  We’re talking out like a light – or so it seemed.  His little arms were folded on his chest; his big feet were sticking straight up in the air and he was just drifting.  But, he was drifting toward the rocks that lined the little cove at the end of the bay just before the entrance to the harbor.  He kept getting closer and closer, and all I could picture was our favorite otter’s little body washing up on those rocks.  Then, the little guy started drifting right toward the channel where all the fishing boats and tour boats enter and leave the harbor.  Still, Otterville didn’t wake up, and I was getting more and more nervous.  THEN he drifted directly into the harbor entrance and I WAS A WRECK!  A big catamaran actually steered around him right in the middle of the harbor.  Omigosh, Otterville!  Will you please WAKE UP?!!!  Otterville drifted around the bend in the harbor entrance and we lost sight of him.  Now, I was REALLY frantic.  If you could see how busy that harbor was, you’d be frantic, too.  Finally, we jumped on our bikes to see if we could spot him in the harbor, but we didn’t find him.  Alan is convinced that he never was truly asleep, knew just where he was all the time, and finally just dived underwater and swam back out of the harbor into the bay when he decided nap time was over.  I, of course, was not easily convinced, and I worried about him until we spotted him the next day – still livin’ the dream.  Thank heaven!

Laugh(s) of the Day – If you can stand just one more otter story . . . One day, as we were watching Otterville drifting around the bay enjoying his lunch, sea gulls starting circling, and a few landed in the water near him.  Then one bird had the audacity to land right on his stomach.  Alan and I started laughing, but Otterville didn’t miss a beat.  He just rolled over and went under the water, and the surprised sea gull flew off to look for lunch elsewhere.

Campground(s) – The City of Seward has its own gold mine.  Well, not an actual gold mine, but it might as well be.  The city has a huge strip of land called Waterfront Park that runs along the shoreline of Resurrection Bay.  It maintains at least seven municipal campgrounds, one of which is a grassy tents-only campground across the street under the trees.  The rest of the municipal campgrounds are gravel parking lots directly on the water with space for RVs, large and small.  Most of the campsites are dry, meaning no water or electric hookups and no sewer connections.  You pull in, you park and you’re done.  A small section of one campground does have premium sites, which I believe have electric only.  The cost to park in a gravel lot with no services was $45.00 per night, a far cry from the $22.00 per night we pay for a waterfront site at our favorite state park or the (sometimes as low as) $10.00 per night we pay at federal campgrounds using Alan’s Senior Interagency Pass.  A gravel lot.  No services.  But I gotta tell ya, as of now, this campsite is probably going to win the Campsite of the Year Award.  We had front row seats to all of the action going on around the port, harbor and out into the bay.  We had coffee every morning looking out over the water and at the incredibly beautiful mountains across the bay.  It didn’t matter whether it was a gloomy, gray day or a delightful blue sky day – the mountains were always majestic and awe-inspiring.  The mountain views out the front of the trailer were nearly as spectacular.  We held court-side seats at one of nature’s spectacular arenas – and we absolutely loved it.  You know what they say . . . Location, location, location?  Well, this location was a bargain at $45.00 per night.  After playing with the numbers one afternoon, we figured that, in a good year, the City of Seward could take in well over a million dollars in revenue just from these campgrounds.  Nice work, if you can get it.  The city does provide a free dump station and potable water just across the road from the campgrounds.  We also had a potable water source within our campground, as well.  If you can come to terms with “camping” in a gravel lot, you can have the time of your life here.  And we did!

That's our rig in the background, in the center of the photo.

Marathon Campground, site 816 - potential Campsite of the Year Award

Taken from the rocky beach

Gorgeous views all around!

Who wouldn't love waking up to this every morning?!

Pic(s) of the Day

Wildflowers along the Seward Highway

Along with spectacular mountain views

Meet Otterville!

And just look at the size of those feet!

Sea lion, halibut and opportunistic sea gulls

Swimming off after lunch was finished

Eagle eyes watching Otterville

I loved watching the eagles stretch out their talons as they came in for a landing.

Negotiating over a fish on the beach

Such an amazing wing span!

What are YOU looking at?!

Ahoy, mates!  I'm piloting the Fishing Vessel Alaskan Bounty today.  Watch out on the seas!

Sea stars in the exceptional Touch Tank exhibit

Up Next – A second post covering our 10 days in Seward with plenty of highlights to come.