SEWARD, ALASKA

Located by the broad fjord of Resurrection Bay, Seward is a mountainside grid of streets lined with old wood-frame houses and newer fishermen's residences.

The main reason to go to Seward has always been Resurrection Bay. This agreeable little town started life as a place to fish and to get off boats arriving in Alaska, then continued as a place for Alaskans and visitors to get on boats and see the bay and Kenai Fjords National Park. With the growth of the cruise industry, Seward again is a place to get off the boat.

Most cruises that cross the Gulf of Alaska start or end here, with their passengers taking a bus to or from the airport in Anchorage. That flow of people has brought a lot of tourist development to town, mostly of a quality that hasn't damaged the town's character.

SeaLife Center
The center is a serious research institution and an interesting aquarium of creatures from the nearby Alaska waters. You may have seen puffins diving into the water from a tour boat; here you can see what they look like flying under the water. Seabirds, harbor seals, and sea lions reside in three large exhibits that you can see from above or below. There are some smaller tanks with fish, crab, and other creatures, a touch tank where you can handle starfish and other tide-pool animals, and exhibits on changes in the Bering Sea and on jellyfish. Another exhibit updates the status of Exxon Valdez spill damage to birds and marine mammals; Exxon settlement money made the center possible. The center is not as large as a big-city aquarium, however, and you're not likely to spend more than an hour or two here.