Warning: Nature Overload

I'm a Florida girl, so I've had my share of SeaWorld. My first visit to the theme park was on a chilly November afternoon when I was a wee girl of five. I can still remember watching, enthralled, as "Shampoo the Killer Whale" appeared, hurtling through the glistening aquamarine water and bursting upwards in a magnificent arc.

Unfortunately, nobody told me I was sitting in the Splash Zone. And they should have, because I was a wee girl of five who happened to really, really hate getting wet.

Since that day, I've recovered from my traumatic experience enough to go snorkeling with rays, go scalloping in the Atlantic and even kissing a dolphin. However, I have NEVER seen anything like what nature has to offer at the Kenai (pronounced like "keen eye") Fjord here in Alaska.

I'm happy because I am getting pummeled by the cold wind and not splashed by orcas

My coworkers and I were lucky enough to catch a cruise tour of the fjord on a flawless May day. The sky was bright, the air was brisk, and the wind on deck was like someone incessantly pummeling you with a slab of ice. Luckily, I had a neat little spot inside (next to this cute guy named Blake) and a cup of hot chocolate to which I could return when I tired of having my face frozen.

Blake fell asleep so I decided he was boring and took this totally non-creeper photo

I didn't spend too much time inside, though, because I didn't want to miss any of the wildlife. And boy, was there wildlife. The Kenai Fjord offers a total OVERLOAD of wildlife. It's breathtaking. It's nature's SeaWorld. Who wants to sit in the stupid Splash Zone anyway?

To give you an idea, in this one day cruise I saw orcas, humpback whales, doll porpoises, bighorn sheep, sea otters, sea lions, puffins, auks, harbor seals, bald eagles and a disgruntled black bear. The orcas, whales and porpoises all swam right up to the ship, their glistening sides catching the Alaskan sunlight as camera shutters clicked and people gasped in delight.

Don't forget the landscape, either. Alaska has a beautiful exhibition of awe-inspiring, snow-capped mountain ranges, and watching an orca breaching with those jagged peaks in the background is spectacular. We saw several glaciers and were able to rest in the shadow of one, listening to the distant thunder of ice breaking free and crashing into the gelid water. The crewmen even netted a chunk of glacial ice and hauled it aboard for us to touch (spoilers: it was pretty much like every other piece of ice I've encountered). Glaciers feed nearly all the bodies of water here, and the result is that the rivers and lakes are a translucent aquamarine hue, while the ocean is a deep teal.

Basically, it was unlike anything I've ever seen across the globe. EVERYBODY SHOULD GO TO KENAI FJORD IN ALASKA. Kay bye.

(Now I just have to see a moose!!)

Alaskan Wild

Hi, it's me. Remember how I started this whole blog thing because I was moving to Ecuador? Well, there've been a few changes. You may have noticed the new banner at the top of the page, the new buttons down the side. Ecuatoria has undergone a facelift.

Ecuatoria has moved to Alaska.

You may be thinking, "wait, wasn't I just reading about the Amazon Rainforest?" or "did she seriously just move from the equator to the arctic?" or "I like turtles." Whatever you're actually thinking, it's true that you, me, we all are about to undergo some considerable cultural and climatic changes. Here are the facts:

1) I'm living in Alaska until the end of September.

2) I'm working at a resort lodge nestled deeeep in the wilderness.

3) Seriously, we barely get any wifi out here.

Living in Alaska has been an ambition of mine ever since my family moved to Florida over a decade ago. Now, I love Florida, but it has no mountains (unless you count golf courses), and it has weird seasons (hurricane season, lovebug season, summer, and this weird sunshiny-autumn-spring thing that occurs in the winter months). This inspired in me a fascination of all things Alaska. I checked out all the books on Alaska from our library (this was before the invention of the internet), collected pictures and postcards, talked to anyone who had lived there. And I determined I would someday traverse those wild, rugged slopes that dominated the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Or something like that.

So here I am. It's cold in Alaska. And rainy. Fruit is pricy. We're told never to walk alone because we might get mauled by a bear. There's no wifi. Also…there's no wifi.

However, the wildlife is incredible, the mountain ranges are spectacular (they're much bigger than golf courses), the people are super friendly and tight-knit, and I love it here! I love my coworkers and my job. I love that someone cooks my meals for me. I love that I can step out my front door and find myself surrounded by soaring, snow-capped peaks, or listen to the crystalline river, or watch a bald eagle navigate the cloud-swept sky. Everything here is huge, wild and rustic. The air smells of pine. The sun never seems to set. Welcome to summer in Alaska.