Glacier Bay National Park
If we’d come to this area two-hundred and fifty years ago, our visit would have been very limited. Back then, the bay didn’t really exist, it was covered by very thick ice. Today we were able to travel 60 miles north into this enormous bay, and we arrived at the Grand Pacific Glacier after lunch. This ‘grand daddy’ of the bay’s glaciers carries tons of rock debris from surrounding mountains; it is 2 miles wide, dirty, dark, and very un-glacier-like in appearance. Right next to it is the beautiful, blue-white face of Margerie Glacier. As the ship floated about one-quarter mile from the glaciers, most of us focused our attention on Margerie. The ice at her front is as tall as a 25-story building, and we heard thundering sounds as the slow-moving ice mass shifted and cracked. Finally, a large mass of ice calved from the face, car- and house-sized ice chunks fell into the fjord, and water splashed up. The ship rolled gently on smooth swells. What power!
It is truly remarkable to see how quickly life has repopulated the bay. Our first stop today was South Marble Island, where hundreds of kittiwakes and Steller sea lions rested on rocks that were rounded and smoothed by glaciers. A handful of colorful tufted puffins stood in twos on tufts of grass outside their burrows. Below, a lone sea otter swam past. Two weeks ago, a newborn Steller sea lion pup was seen at South Marble Island! Will South Marble become an important breeding rookery in coming years? Only time will tell.
We found a brown bear onshore up bay, and at Gloomy Knob, many mountain goats stood on very narrow ledges of the steep cliff face. Their habitat protects them from predators, but gravity remains a major threat. Ice, rock, whites, blues, clouds, coolness . . . and yet life is abundant. After dinner we stretched our legs during short walks at Bartlett Cove.
If we’d come to this area two-hundred and fifty years ago, our visit would have been very limited. Back then, the bay didn’t really exist, it was covered by very thick ice. Today we were able to travel 60 miles north into this enormous bay, and we arrived at the Grand Pacific Glacier after lunch. This ‘grand daddy’ of the bay’s glaciers carries tons of rock debris from surrounding mountains; it is 2 miles wide, dirty, dark, and very un-glacier-like in appearance. Right next to it is the beautiful, blue-white face of Margerie Glacier. As the ship floated about one-quarter mile from the glaciers, most of us focused our attention on Margerie. The ice at her front is as tall as a 25-story building, and we heard thundering sounds as the slow-moving ice mass shifted and cracked. Finally, a large mass of ice calved from the face, car- and house-sized ice chunks fell into the fjord, and water splashed up. The ship rolled gently on smooth swells. What power!
It is truly remarkable to see how quickly life has repopulated the bay. Our first stop today was South Marble Island, where hundreds of kittiwakes and Steller sea lions rested on rocks that were rounded and smoothed by glaciers. A handful of colorful tufted puffins stood in twos on tufts of grass outside their burrows. Below, a lone sea otter swam past. Two weeks ago, a newborn Steller sea lion pup was seen at South Marble Island! Will South Marble become an important breeding rookery in coming years? Only time will tell.
We found a brown bear onshore up bay, and at Gloomy Knob, many mountain goats stood on very narrow ledges of the steep cliff face. Their habitat protects them from predators, but gravity remains a major threat. Ice, rock, whites, blues, clouds, coolness . . . and yet life is abundant. After dinner we stretched our legs during short walks at Bartlett Cove.
