Ecuatoria: 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.