Steve and I met at the office around 6:30 for our half-day charter. We were going with Capt. Dillon, and with everyone present we got out early again. And again, it was another foggy day out on Resurrection Bay.
Today, we had two Wyoming cowboys with us that had never done any ocean fishing, plus we had a former Miller's Landing employee and a friend of hers.
All of us wanted to focus on salmon, so Capt. Dillon took us to a location another captain suggested, but he didn't stop. He continued on to Pony Cove where there were lots of boats wrangling for position and trying to get Silver Salmon.
We saw a few boats bringing in fish, but it was slow. Capt. Dillon doesn't like to sit too long without fish, so we moved on. He likes to get a few rockfish in the boat so his clients catch something early on. Though it was again a "Silver Salmon and Black Bass" charter, the focus was on rockfish, which was fine with me because they taste just as good, if not better.
Unfortunately, we didn't do as well as the other day, so today I was more disappointed. The cowboys got some rockfish, and one of them caught a salmon by accident and didn't know he had it until I told him. But we were happy for them.
I caught a few small fish that we threw back hoping to get bigger ones. In the end, I wish we would have kept a couple of them, as I only ended up with a Silvergray Rockfish.
Steve caught a really nice Yelloweye Rockfish, but that was his only keeper.
Among the six of us, we only got ten keepers and only one of those was a salmon.
At least Steve's Yelloweye was the biggest, and it's known to be one of the tastiest fish.
In the afternoon, Linda & I decided to go to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward.
It's not so much of an "aquarium" as it is a facility that has marine animals on display but that focuses more on science and research, education, and its wildlife response program which sends a response team for live and dead marine wildlife that has been abandoned, stranded, or injured anywhere in Alaska.
We arrived in hopes that we could join one of their Behind The Scenes Tours for an extra $15/person. They often sell out and are limited to 12 people, but we got lucky as there were only three others signed up this afternoon.
We used our Alaska Toursaver coupon to get 2 for 1 admission (normally $30/person for non-residents), but it wasn't supposed to apply to the special tour. However, their system wasn't allowing the young man at the front desk to separate the charges, so we got 2 for 1 on both the entrance and the tour. So, that was a $45 savings with our Toursaver as it continues to be well worth the cost.
At 4:30, our tour guide joined us and took us up to the second level.
She first went over the education aspects of their mission.
And we then moved to their Steller Sea Lion research program.
We stepped into the staff area and watched two young ladies who were monitoring sea lion rookeries that had camera feeds.
There is a feed of the rookery monitoring in a public area of the center so visitors can watch what we were seeing, and they are working on a live online feed. After watching the sea lions on the incredibly clear video, we moved on.
Our interpreter/guide then shared some details of their wildlife response program which is pretty cool.
She explained rescue procedures and rehabilitation where it can be done, and the criteria for releasing animals back into the wild. Unfortunately, some can't be released, so they become "ambassadors" for their species at the center or at other facilities across the world.
We saw some of their labs and went back into an area where they had various tanks of marine life.
We got to see tanks from the top that have viewing windows in the main area of the center below.
We were then told about the animal enrichment program. The two paintings in the photo below were done by seals.
The tour ended with a discussion of how the water for the facility is piped in and circulated.
The one-hour Behind The Scenes Tour was all right for $15 if you are interested in that sort of thing.
We then began our self-guided tour. The sea lions weren't swimming in their tank, but the seals were.
We of course checked out the other tanks, ....
and watched a couple of sea otters for a little bit.
Adorable as usual.
At 6:00, it was time for the sea bird feeding, so we popped into the aviary/pool. There were Horned Puffins and Tufted Puffins along with Pigeon Guillemots, Common Mures, and a variety of sea ducks such as this Harlequin.
But it was the puffins that put on the best show when the feeding began.
Puffins aren't easy to photograph in the wild, so I took the opportunity here to get some good shots.
This is the Horned Puffin with its fleshy "horn" above the eye.
They closely resemble the Atlantic Puffin, their east coast cousin.
And these are shots of the Tufted Puffins, which certainly have a more unique look.
Puffins are often referred to as the "clowns of the sea" and, not only do they look clownish, but their antics are incredibly fun to watch. We left the bird feeding with big smiles.
In the end, the Alaska SeaLife Center does great work and we're happy to contribute, but for pure entertainment value, $30/person is a bit steep, especially if you have been to some of the world class aquariums across the country.
After a couple hours at the SeaLife Center, we decided to walk into the historic part of Seward and have dinner. We went to The Cookery, which came highly recommended.
They don't take reservations and there was a wait, but they have a back patio where you can get a drink and appetizers while waiting for a table. Interestingly, the main kitchen is also out on the patio, so you can watch as entrees are prepared. We had a delicious bowl of warm cashews cooked in butter with rosemary and pepper flakes.
We chatted with some nice people, and we were eventually called to sit at the bar, an option we were offered for potentially quicker seating. And it was equally entertaining as the hot appetizers were prepared in the bar area.
Linda & I split a steak and they took good care of us with a couple of Keto-friendly substitutions. The food was really good, and The Cookery was extremely well managed from both a food and service standpoint. We'd recommend it as a nice night out in Seward.
During our time here, we always saw otters on the way back to Miller's Landing, and tonight was no exception. We stopped and watched for a few minutes as they played.
Tomorrow, we head north as we have a few days to kill before we go back to Anchorage for our flight out to Katmai National Park on July 15th. The plan is to go to Cooper Landing to hang out, but we have some concerns about the smoke from the wildfire still burning to the west of there. Hopefully, it won't be too bad, and maybe we can get some fishing in.
Until next time.
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