Glacier Bay
Screaming seabirds wheeled above the metamorphosed limestone that gives South Marble Island its name. Rocks shaped by glacial action now provide nesting sites for black-legged kittiwakes, pigeon guillemots, and glaucous-winged gulls. The straw-colored head ornaments and brightly colored beaks identified the comical and endearing tufted puffins that flew about us before breakfast like flying footballs.
Low, guttural growls rolled across the water from a rocky haul-out where Steller sea lions lay crowded together. Mature males such as the thick-necked bull in the photo jostled for the best positions as the younger animals reluctantly shifted out of their way. The most massive animals may weigh two thousand four hundred pounds. This species, also known as the northern sea lion, is endangered farther north in its range, but here in Southeast Alaska the population is doing well.
The Seabird left the seabirds and sea lions and motored north to explore the upper reaches of Glacier Bay. A National Park Service ranger had boarded in the early morning to join us for the day. She reminded us how extremely lucky we were today to see the rugged snow-capped peaks unobstructed by clouds. The turquoise water was milky with glacial flour, rock material pulverized by glaciers then swept into the silt-laden bay. We reached the northernmost point of our entire journey at the foot of Margerie Glacier where jagged blue ice rose in stark contrast against the distant cliffs. Grand Pacific Glacier disappeared to the north across the Canadian border, dirty with morainal debris from tributaries feeding it from above. The ship remained in this area for several hours waiting for chucks of ice to calve from the towering pinnacles into the sea.
During the afternoon we followed the path that the glacier once took down to what is now Bartlett Cove with a few detours to see Johns Hopkins and Geike Inlets. Following dinner we dropped off our ranger and walked ashore past lily-dotted ponds within a young spruce forest that has grown in since the retreat of ice about two hundred years ago.
Screaming seabirds wheeled above the metamorphosed limestone that gives South Marble Island its name. Rocks shaped by glacial action now provide nesting sites for black-legged kittiwakes, pigeon guillemots, and glaucous-winged gulls. The straw-colored head ornaments and brightly colored beaks identified the comical and endearing tufted puffins that flew about us before breakfast like flying footballs.
Low, guttural growls rolled across the water from a rocky haul-out where Steller sea lions lay crowded together. Mature males such as the thick-necked bull in the photo jostled for the best positions as the younger animals reluctantly shifted out of their way. The most massive animals may weigh two thousand four hundred pounds. This species, also known as the northern sea lion, is endangered farther north in its range, but here in Southeast Alaska the population is doing well.
The Seabird left the seabirds and sea lions and motored north to explore the upper reaches of Glacier Bay. A National Park Service ranger had boarded in the early morning to join us for the day. She reminded us how extremely lucky we were today to see the rugged snow-capped peaks unobstructed by clouds. The turquoise water was milky with glacial flour, rock material pulverized by glaciers then swept into the silt-laden bay. We reached the northernmost point of our entire journey at the foot of Margerie Glacier where jagged blue ice rose in stark contrast against the distant cliffs. Grand Pacific Glacier disappeared to the north across the Canadian border, dirty with morainal debris from tributaries feeding it from above. The ship remained in this area for several hours waiting for chucks of ice to calve from the towering pinnacles into the sea.
During the afternoon we followed the path that the glacier once took down to what is now Bartlett Cove with a few detours to see Johns Hopkins and Geike Inlets. Following dinner we dropped off our ranger and walked ashore past lily-dotted ponds within a young spruce forest that has grown in since the retreat of ice about two hundred years ago.
