After spending time seeing the whales, the puffins and the sea lions, our tour included a trip out to the remote islands and the area of Holgate Glacier. Now, even though I was not aware that the trip would include this originally, and we had gotten so sick at the first part, this particular section of the trip turned out to be my favorite (after seeing the whales). You can see a picture I took of a map of where we went above and how surrounded it was by mountains, trees, glaciers, and islands.

The beauty as we traveled looked "fake" because it was so pristine and so wild and free. It literally felt like something that you only see in the movies and in national geographic magazines. The depth of the colors of the water, the mountains, and then the glacier and the sky colors ended up being one of my favorite places that I saw in Alaska. In a small way it reminded me of my travels to Thompson Pass in Alaska because the beauty was so striking to me. Except that I think that I liked this even more because of being on the water. I definitely would hands down recommend the tour simply for the beauty if you aren't interested in the whale watching component. 

The mountains, with a variety of different glaciers and snow capped areas was truly a feast for the eyes.

Simply breathtaking... absolutely incredible.

As we approached the area where we would head up into to see Holgate Glacier we saw some low clouds that it looked like we were going to head straight into and that would block our view. We were not concerned (haha partially because we were just so thankful that we weren't feeling as sick at this point!) but it was amazing to see it break off as we got closer!

As we felt the boat slow down Emily braved getting up to look to see what was going on and she found a new friend for me. Y'all. The Otters. Seriously... he was so adorable and I was so enthralled that now I think that Otters may be my new friend. 

And then all of a sudden I realized that we could see the stunning beauty around us and we all were just stunned. In the calm bay we stood in awe of what we were seeing. 

There were glaciers that were so blue that it was stunning. I feel like the pictures don't even do a great job of showing the perfect color it was that beautiful. Last year when I visited Worthington Glacier (you can read about it HERE) and hiked that Glacier (HERE) it was pretty... and it was lovely and I would recommend it, but this was just spectacular in a different way. 

There were also little waterfalls and ice parts floating around us... it was so lovely... and then we saw Holgate Glacier...and were in awe.

Holgate Glacier is located in Kenai Fjords National Park in Holgate Arm in Aialik Bay. 

One of the most intriguing things to learn about Holgate Glacier is that while it is one of the smaller glaciers in Aialik Bay, it is actually an advancing glacier which is extremely unique, especially with our world. 

After we stayed at the glacier for about an hour we started the trip back to Seward. The ride back was so incredible, and even though we had ended up in the back because we had gotten sick on the first part of the tour, I would definitely recommend this spot for the views home if you do this tour. The views were incredible, hardly anyone (at this point) was sitting in the back, and you could see the whole expanse surrounding you. 

As we neared the end of the Bay, it was almost like the clouds came around again and it didn't even look like you could see what we had seen. A definite hidden gem. 

As we came out of Aialik bay, we slowed down around an island to look at a little bit of wildlife and I was so intrigued by the waters.

Isn't that water color simply amazing?? Just looking at the colors again I am just in awe. Seriously in awe. Do y'all remember me talking about my hike along the Kenai River last year? (click HERE to read)... these colors reminded me of those colors... and even a bit more vibrant in certain areas!

Overall I would say that this time in those mountains and in that beauty turned out to be one of my favorite times of our trip (although there were so many it is hard to pick just one!). If you have the chance, I can't recommend enough heading out to Holgate Glacier and spending time exploring that beautiful area! 

A huge thank you to Kenai Fjords Tours for the complimentary experience for myself and two guests. ALL opinions are my own.