Daily Expedition Reports

Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier

Leaving Juneau in the early hours of the morning, guests aboard National Geographic Sea Lion found themselves amidst the grand and perspective enhancing landscape of Southeast Alaska. Cruising among the islands, guests took in the seemingly endless options of bays and inlets, all holding the promise of adventure and discovery. We were treated to a pre-breakfast humpback whale sighting, watching as it logged on the surface before it showed an impressive fluke before descending to the depths. Bald eagles, white-winged scoters, and harlequin ducks owned the air around us – adding up to a full Alaskan morning.

After a few briefings and some tips on photography from our photo instructor, we entered the Tracy Arm-Ford’s Terror Wilderness.

Jun 16, 2013 National Geographic Sea Lion in Alaska

North Seymour Island

Our day started with an early morning excursion to the island of North Seymour in the central realm of Galapagos. This morning we had a great walk, we encountered Galapagos sea lions sunbathing, Galapagos marine iguanas as well as large colonies of blue footed boobies and great, magnificent frigate birds.

Every week is different and one of the things we noticed was the increasing number of juvenile blue footed boobies covered in their white down coat.

Jun 16, 2013 National Geographic Endeavour in Galápagos

Tracy Arm, Southeast Alaska

I consider myself a very fortunate fellow. Thanks to Lindblad Expeditions, in concert with the National Geographic Society, I have visited glaciers all around the world, from the Arctic to Antarctica. I believe that the most beautiful of them all are the Sawyer and South Sawyer Glaciers, right here at the end of Tracy Arm. Certainly, nothing can match the intense blue of these tidewater glaciers. 

After an active morning at Williams Cove featuring forest walks, kayaking, and expedition landing craft cruises, we headed up Tracy Arm, a fjord that cuts into the mainland of Alaska.

Jun 15, 2013 National Geographic Sea Bird in Alaska

Genovesa Island

Our ship anchored in the middle of the caldera of an extinct volcano, Darwin Bay. Some of our guests went kayaking early in the morning before breakfast and were able to see plenty of birds flying over the old caldera of the volcano as they kayaked along its rim. After breakfast we had a landing at Darwin Bay, to explore the nesting ground of many birds like the great frigate birds and red footed boobies, which were nesting on the red mangrove trees. 

This was sea bird island, as they were everywhere we looked.

Jun 15, 2013 National Geographic Islander in Galápagos

Bellsund, Spitzbergen Island, Svalbard

We smoothly crept into Bellsund Fjord as the last full day of our journey began. The overcast sky, broken by light areas of cloud and shafts of sunlight offered promise of another wonderful day. National Geographic Explorer’s anchor was lowered, close to our first landing at Ahlstrandhalvoya on the south shore, just inside the entrance to the fjord. An unusually cold wind was blowing from the west, as we left the warmth of the ship to make a landing at the cabin named Bamsebu. Long, medium and short walks were an offer on the large, stony, tundra plain behind the cabin. Grey phalaropes and purple sandpipers were busy feeding at the water’s edge as we made our landing from the Zodiacs. Besides the well-maintained cabin were the signs of a brutal industry past. Hundreds of beluga whales had been slaughtered here many years ago and piled in heaps were their bleached white bones.

Our walk took us out to the headland to the west of the cabin and around a large open bay.

Jun 15, 2013 National Geographic Explorer in Arctic

Tracy Arm

A flawless day bookends a flawless trip. If typical Alaskan weather was the expectation for our six days together then we had anything but the ordinary. Our last full day in Southeast Alaska was spent in Tracy Arm-Ford’s Terror Wilderness under yet another blue sky, atop more calm water and embraced by another 70-degree day. First light found us surrounded on all sides by 3-4 thousand-foot vertical walls of plutonic gneiss topped with snow-lined ridges. Tracy Arm takes those lucky enough to experience it through 22 miles of sinuous geology matched by no other. If one were to flood Yosemite Valley and lengthen that flooded valley floor two to three times, you would begin to match the scale of this landscape. Soft morning light guided us east, deeper and deeper into the fjord until a minefield of icebergs slowed our progress and the luminous, craggy face of South Sawyer Glacier signaled the beginning of our morning tours.

Left adrift at a depth of 640 feet, National Geographic Sea Lion drifted amongst ice sculptures while our entire fleet of inflatables probed deeper into the fjord, as we attempted to get closer looks at the looming blue mass that is South Sawyer Glacier.

Jun 14, 2013 National Geographic Sea Lion in Alaska

Bodrum, Turkey

Sea Cloud docked early last night, June 13, at the cruise pier in Bodrum. After dinner aboard, some of us walked into town to sample the nightlife. There were crowds of people out and about—shopping, eating, strolling with children, or just taking the night air. Some were foreign tourists like us. Others were Turks, both local Bodrumis and vacationers from other parts of the county. The old harbor was full of small ships, many of them typical two- or three-masted wooden yachts called gulets in Turkish. There was a chatter of voices in half a dozen languages, the clatter of traffic, and under it all, a pounding beat from a beachfront nightclub, the “Halikarnas.” Returning to the ship I became pleasantly aware of the comparative quiet of Sea Cloud.

In the morning we returned to Bodrum town to visit the Museum of Underwater Archaeology in the well-preserved 15th century castle of St.

Jun 14, 2013 Sea Cloud in Mediterranean

Mitkof Island, Ideal Cove & Petersburg

We woke this morning in Fredrick Sound on our way to Ideal Cove, an aptly named anchorage, to begin our exploration of Mitkof Island south of Petersburg, Alaska. Hikers enjoyed a three-hour hike around the lake and an investigation of the forest ecology. The temperature rose as we walked the trail and by mid-morning, the sun once again broke through the overcast. Sitka spruce and western hemlock trees provide a canopy above the dense understory of countless flowering shrubs mosses and lichen. Moose tracks along the boardwalk trail spoke of the presence of large mammals and while none appeared, we were treated to the antics of two woodpeckers (red-breasted sap suckers) engaged in either a territorial dispute or mating ritual. The birds flitted closely around us as we watched in silence. Turn-around was at the eastern edge of Hill Lake for all but the aerobic hikers. Here we were rewarded with a brilliant view of the glassy water.

Lunchtime back on National Geographic Sea Bird provided time to refresh and prepare for the afternoon in Petersburg.

Jun 14, 2013 National Geographic Sea Bird in Alaska

West coast of Spitsbergen

This day turned out to be a remarkable day of Arctic exploration, mainly for two reasons: weather and whales! During the night we had sailed from about 80 degrees towards 79 degrees north. The first risers on the bridge could observe the shores of Mitra Peninsula as National Geographic Explorer was heading for Signehamna, the first destination of the day. The morning light shifted frequently. Sparse bundles of sun rays now and then broke through cloudy skies, with scattered snow showers appearing on the horizon.

Two minke whales were observed at the mouth of Lilliehöökfjorden.

Jun 14, 2013 National Geographic Explorer in Arctic

Genovesa Island

Tower, or Genovesa Island, is home to over one million seabirds. Our highlights here were diverse, from Nazca, red & blue-footed boobies and gulls to owls, fur seals, hammerheads sharks, turtles and manta rays.

Our adventure began with a walk that started at the famous Prince Philip’s Steps where we were surrounded by Nazca, red-footed boobies and frigate bird chicks.

Jun 14, 2013 National Geographic Endeavour in Galápagos