Puffin, Alaska SeaLife Center, Seward, Alaska
Seward is a small town, and its main purpose for existence seems to be tourism. There are a lot of tourist activities in town centering around Resurrection Bay which is the large bay forming the harbor, the fjords, and the glaciers that cut them. There were a large number of RV’s parked along the beachfront today when we visited.
Once again it was a very wet day, with fog hanging low over the mountains, and drizzle off and on, mostly on, for all day. In the morning we stopped at tourist information, went to the library and post office, and then drove about two miles south to a kayaking rental place. We have a two for one coupon with the company in one of the advertising guides, and we thought we might go with them if it cleared up. It didn’t, so we are thinking we probably won’t do that.
The road was narrow and rough, and we got our third flat tire of the trip while driving to the kayak rental place. While I was changing it, one of the local residents came by, and said that it was pretty common to get flats on that road, and told us where we could get it changed. We left the tire at the shop he recommended, and then drove to the Alaska SeaLife Center and ate our sandwiches for lunch.
The aquarium is quite nice, and has good exhibits of local types of marine life. Unlike aquariums like Vancouver, it has no exotic tropical fish, as everything here is local. They also have a display of sea birds, which dive into the same tanks as the fish. The bigger tanks were visible below the water line as well, so you could see the fish and birds in the water at the same time. Similar tanks held Stellar Sea Lions, and Harbour Seals.
We spent a couple of hours touring the aquarium, then went back to get our tire. It wasn’t done, but when we got there they fixed it for us right away. After that we walked around the town. There seem to be two parts: one where the tour boats depart from, and another part called “Old Seward”. Both have shops that cater mostly to tourists. However, I don’t think it has been a very good season. In one store we overheard the clerk on the phone, and she said yesterday was the worst day she’d ever had, and she only made nine (or ninety, we aren’t quite sure) dollars. From a conversation we had with one of the fjord cruise clerks we gather that there are some cruise ships that come in here, and that must be an important boost to the local economy. The weather is supposed to be similar tomorrow, but clearing by Thursday. We’ll stay until at least then, and if it clears go on a cruise of the fjords.