So far, I have greatly enjoyed this trip in Alaska. My favorite activities have been going to the beach and whale watching. Going down to the beach was so peaceful and such a joy to find shells, rocks, and other forms of oceanic life. Today I found one clam shell, two brightly colored pieces of clam shells, a distinctly defined but broken piece of shell, a piece of sponge, a piece of coral, and a rock with a piece of coral still attached. I am so excited to bring these trinkets home as a way to remember this unbelievable experience. Two of my peers actually found starfish, which just made the whole experience at the beach that much more special. I actually really enjoyed that the beach was not made of sand but actually pebbles. The beach was such a calming and lovely experience.
The other activity that I have enjoyed very much so far was the whale watching. I have never been on a whale watching tour before so this was a brand new experience for me. I was actually a little nervous for this activity because I tend to get motion sickness, but thank goodness I did not end up getting sick. The first animals that we saw were bald eagles, closely followed by our first occurrence with dolphins in the first straightaway, which I completely did not expect to see. Both these animals just showed me how vast and incredible Alaska really is. Sadly, we did not see any whales within the first straightaway. We turned around to go through the second straightway, but on the way back we saw mountain goats, which were very unique looking with their horns and their ability to climb the mountains so effectively and swiftly. The animals we saw after the mountain goats were sea lions and a great handful of birds. The sea lions were much bigger than I anticipated! After the sea lions, the dolphins from the previous straightway gave us a source of entertainment by swimming under the boat and then jumping out of the water for us to see in a playful manner. Towards the end of the tour, we were finally able to see whales. The whales were so graceful and majestic that I could have watched them all day. This tour really opened my eyes to new experiences and to not be afraid to try new things.
