Glacier Bay National Park
The calm and mirror-still green waters of Glacier Bay greeted us in the morning. As we quietly approached South Marble Island, the raucous cries of hundreds of Steller sea lions and the rich smell of their haul-out site reached our nostrils. On precariously narrow ledges on the rocks above the sea lions, black-legged kittiwakes sat on nests incubating eggs. Myriads of pigeon guillemots, common murres, black oystercatchers, pelagic cormorants and puffins circled in the skies overhead and swam in the waters around our ship.
Earlier in the morning we had picked up Richard Becker and Faye Schaller, our Park Service rangers who provided us with information about this special and beautiful park throughout the course of the day and enriched our experience here.
Liquid sunshine and a steady breeze slowly changed the face of our still morning, but undaunted we stood on deck looking for more signs of wildlife. Numerous mountain goats were seen high on the rocky slopes, small white specks ambling easily up and down the steep mountains. Just before lunch we were rewarded even further with a view of 2 brown bears wandering along a rocky beach. One bear, dark brown in color, was digging through seaweed and turning over rocks to munch on its finds. The other bear was much blonder in color.
Glacier Bay National Park contains 12 tidewater glaciers that calve into the bay. Our goal in the afternoon was to see ice, and Margerie Glacier at the end of Tarr Inlet instantly rewarded us with a few big calving events. This magnificently jagged wall of ice spilling down the valley spouted and spewed ice towards us and rocked the ship with resulting waves. This was our northernmost stop on our voyage and soon it was time to head south, with a brief stop at Lamplugh Glacier on the way.
A walk after dinner and a visit to the lodge at Bartlett Cove ended our wonderful day.
