Glacier Bay National Park
Out on the ship’s deck, the first sound of our day was the whirring of the steady wind broken by the loud percussions of a giant cracking wall of ice. Marjorie Glacier’s immense jagged face loomed off our starboard side and occasionally sent tons of ice thundering into the sea. The glacier’s striated blue ice was flanked by dark high mountains of the Fairweather Range. At dawn, we were at the farthest northern reaches of Glacier Bay. To the right of Marjorie Glacier lay the rock-strewn bulk of Great Pacific Glacier, reaching towards us across the nearby border of Canada.
During breakfast we moved to Lamplugh Glacier where we were greeted by the sun and a thin rainbow arcing over the entrance to Johns Hopkins Inlet. Fresh snow glazed the tops of high peaks in front of us while other mountains were obscured by heavy clouds. Today’s weather kept swirling and changing, casting blankets of light across mountainsides and the blue ice of Lamplugh Glacier, and smothering another glacier and range with rain and clouds. Such was our view of Johns Hopkins Glacier at the far end of an ice-filled inlet. We took a peek, and then turned to search for wildlife along Russell Island.
During the day we were accompanied by a Cultural Interpreter, Faith Grant, from the Tlinget village of Hoonah on the southern shore of Icy Strait, and a National Park Ranger, Emily Mount, both of whom spoke to us throughout the day as we explored the waters of Glacier Bay National Park. Faith gave a presentation, called “Waterway of Life,” about her family heritage and the Tlinget people who have lived in this region for thousands of years.
Autumn is reaching into the landscapes of Glacier Bay, and the green slopes of the hills were accented with yellowing leaves of cottonwood trees showing the first hints of fall. We passed Gloomy Knob where mountain goats were perched on slender meadows between the bare rocky cliffs. In the milky green waters below the ledges, there were enormous flocks of hundreds of surf scoters. From there we crossed back to the western side of the bay towards Geike Inlet. Ranger Emily gave a presentation about sea otters, and soon thereafter several of these adorable critters were spotted near the shore in Geike Inlet where we searched for wildlife.
Just before reaching the Marble Islands, Emily gave us a short presentation introducing us to the seabirds of the area. Here, we watched many Steller sea lions hauled out on the rocky shores and cavorting in the nearby waters. There were black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged gulls and pelagic cormorants flying about the area. We also found two types of puffins, the tufted puffin and the less common horned puffin which both are known to nest here. Another brilliant rainbow appeared to the east, with intense colors against gray stormy mountains. As we were leaving the Marble Islands, several killer whales, or orca, were sighted just ahead of the ship. We slowed and turned to watch as two of these sleek black and white creatures surfaced not far off our port side.
During Recap, Faith and Emily shared parting thoughts, and then Emily played a sweetly melancholy tune on her violin to wrap up this memorable day in Glacier Bay. During dinner we continued southward towards Bartlett Cove, our final destination of the day, but by now our day’s leisurely pace left us bucking a strong incoming tide. After dinner, many of us disembarked briefly to take a leg-stretching walk on the terminal moraine of the great glacier that once filled this magnificent bay only 200 years ago.
