If you find yourself in Southern Alaska, a day touring Kenai Fjords National Park is an absolute must! As much of the national park is only accessible by water, a boat tour is a no brainer. There are a few vendors that offer tours, but we went with Kenai Fjords Tours and we were not disappointed! They offer several different options (some including dinner on a private island), but we opted for their standard Kenai Fjords National Park Tour. We visited late in the season (September 2021), and the majority of their tours had already stopped for the season. For the most options, visiting May-August is your best bet! Here is a guide of what to expect spending a day in Kenai Fjords National Park!
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Arrival
The tours all leave from the small fishing town of Seward, about 2 and a half hours south of Anchorage. If you can, I’d definitely recommend staying in Seward either the night before or the night after your tour. It is a long day out on the boat and driving 5 hours roundtrip on top of this excursion makes for an exhausting day. Trust me.
You’ll want to plan to arrive for your trip about an hour before it is set to leave. There is a decent sized parking lot outside the main office, but in the summertime when there are a ton of tours leaving it fills up fast (so we heard). If you end up having time to kill, the Lighthouse Cafe and Bakery is directly across the street and can fuel you up for the day. There is also a small gift shop inside where you can find everything from knick knacks to homemade Alaskan goods.
Tip: Use the bathrooms in the gift shop before you board the boat!
Off to Kenai Fjords National Park!
About a half hour before your scheduled departure time, boarding will commence. My advice would to board then and not wait any longer. If the entire group is on, the tour will leave early for extra time in the park! Our tour actually left about twenty minutes early which gave us the opportunity to stop in Spire Cove (more on that below). It wouldn’t have been possible if there were stragglers! Plus, you can then get first dibs on a seat by the window or railing for unobstructed views.
You’ll start by slowly making your way out of Seward into Resurrection Bay. The views are beautiful. Like, stupid beautiful. Everywhere you turn there are mountains (some capped with snow) jetting out of the water. You’ll lose cell service almost immediately and will be completely out in the wilderness. It gives you such a sense of how vast and remote Alaska truly is. We kept sailing and sailing, and it was all just untouched nature. It really takes your breath away!
Along the ride, the captain will come on the loudspeaker with tons of information about the park and the land surrounding it. You’ll get a rundown of the day while you kick back and enjoy the ride. After a couple hours, they even come around with lunch. We were served chicken wraps, chips, granola bars, and the gooiest chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had.
Aialik Glacier
After a couple hours of cruising through the bay, you’ll arrive at the star of the show: Aialik Glacier. While you’ll pass a few other (smaller) ones along the way, this one is the granddaddy of them all. The glacier is over 3 miles wide and is constantly moving. We were lucky enough to catch a few glimpses of pieces falling into the sea. Keep your eyes peeled for that, because it happens fast (and is truly a sight you don’t want to miss).
The boat will stop at Aialik for about a half an hour, giving everyone plenty of time for photo ops. The captain will even slowly rotate the boat 360 degrees to give everyone a chance to appreciate it. This is the time to make sure you have your camera charged and ready to go- truly spectacular!
Tip: You’ll likely be chilly on the entire ride, but especially at Aialik Glacier with the wind blowing over the ice. Bring plenty of layers, even in the summer!
Orca and Porpoise Spotting
If the conditions are just right, you may be in for another bonus on your tour: whale and porpoise sightings!
On the sail out of Seward we were greeted by a pod of porpoises that loved coming up and playing with the boat. They behave just like dolphins do, but fun fact: they’re actually more closely related to whales than dolphins. The more you know! They’ll come right up along the sides of the boats and dive out of the water next to you. The whole boat was screaming with excitement! Keep an eye out for their fins in the bay during your sail.
As if it couldn’t get any better, later that day we were also welcomed by 3 orca whales! These creatures are absolutely magnificent and it is so surreal to watch them out in the wild. Our captain was very knowledgable about the whales, and could even identify each one by their fins. He had names for each of them and knew their age and back story. It was like meeting celebrities! Our captain cut the motor and we stayed out with them for close to 45 minutes. We watched as their fins popped out of the water, and even saw a few dives. Our captain was very patient and waited until we all got our fill. It was such an unexpected highlight of the day!
More Wildlife
If whales and porpoises aren’t enough for you, there is plenty more wildlife to see in Kenai Fjords National Park!
Keep an ear out for seals along the way- you’ll probably hear them before you see them! Pictured above is about 20 of them laying out on a rock in the bay. They really do blend in well, and if we didn’t hear them barking we probably would not have known they were there! The captain will slow down and give you all a chance to observe them in their natural habitat while they sunbathe and nap. Those also happen to be my two favorite activities so I think that seals are officially my spirit animals.
Another thing to keep a look out for requires a very sharp eye. Up on the many cliffs in the park you may get lucky enough to see a mountain goat! These guys are really hard to spot though, especially later in the season where there may be patches of snow. If you notice a small white puffy ball on the rocks, chances are it might be a mountain goat.
Spire Cove
On the ride back to Seward, you may get lucky enough to stop at one final location: Spire Cove. I say that because a few factors had to align for this to be possible. First, as mentioned above, our tour left about 20 minutes early so we had a little extra time. Second, we had heard that stopping at Spire Cove is not on the formal itinerary for this tour and is by request only. Thankfully we put in our requests and had enough time to stop. If you want to see this- let the captain and crew know early on!
Spire Cove is like a dream. There are dozens of rock columns that shoot straight up out of the sea and the boat will carefully navigate through them. This is another place for the ultimate photo op. If you get lucky enough to have as skilled of a captain as we did, he will also carefully drive the boat’s bow into a cave that is next to the spires. Get to the front of the boat when that starts happening!
Back in Seward
After a long eight-hour day on the water, you’ll make your way back to Seward where you can get your land legs back. We had a long drive back to Anchorage ahead of us, but we needed a bit of time to rest after the ride so we opted for a quick bite in town.
Right next to the marina is the famous Ray’s Waterfront restaurant. We had scoped this place earlier that morning and thought it’d be the perfect spot to stop after the ride. Unfortunately for us, everyone else had the same idea. When we walked in after the tour there was a line out the door and over an hour wait. We didn’t have that much time so we scouted other options. The restaurant was spoken very highly of by the crew, so even though we didn’t get a chance to eat there, I’d still recommend it. If you can, make reservations ahead of time or try to be one of the first ones off the boat to bee-line it there.
We ended up grabbing a quick bite across the street at Alaska Seafood Grill. It was a very casual, order-at-the-counter type of place. Honestly, it ended up working out even better because it was exactly the low-key vibe we were looking for. We had our food quickly and were back on the road up to Anchorage within the hour. What an incredible day!
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