2020 Season in Review

As we patiently waited for guests to be able to return, the word on everyone’s mind was “positivity”, and we continued to stay positive throughout the entire season for our staff and our guests. One thing that helped us stay positive was the wildlife. Captain Laura perfectly described what it was like returning to the sea: “Last spring, when boat tourism was not permitted in Kenai Fjords, we walked to the harbor anyway and painted the decks with that gritty paint that keeps you from slipping. On the nicer days we would occasionally squint down the gateway towards the national park, as if from 11 miles away we might see a fin or a spout or some colossal glacier calving just around the corner. That phrase came to mind, “If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone . . . ?”  And so when the green light was finally given, and the dock lines were dropped, we, the crew and I and those first seasonal visitors, departed with a heightened sense of what was to come, if anything.  We found, even more so than expected, the seals seemed easier to find at first, the sea lions nearer to town, the puffins, somehow more colorful. And then, right on Day 1, that big black fin cut through the water, perhaps oblivious to us, perhaps profoundly aware, but orcas nonetheless, 5 black and white creatures where seconds ago nothing had been, plying the rich green water with their seasonal visit, reassuring us that all was still well, out in the Park.”