Glacier Bay National Park
It was one of those days - the kind that makes you want to stay in Alaska indefinitely. We began our (pleasantly dry) morning at the face of the Johns Hopkins and Gilman glaciers, surrounded by lolling harbor seals and the tumult of fracturing ice. The tops of the mountains standing sentinel behind the glaciers pierced the clouds now and again as we bobbed and rolled in the waves made by splashing bergs. We made our way out of the inlet during breakfast and took in the views of the Lamplugh glacier and the aptly named Gloomy Knob as the Sea Bird headed towards Geiki Inlet. The choice had been made to forego other areas of the bay in favor of Geiki in the hopes of seeing the elusive and immensely rare glacier bears that we had seen there the previous week. This ghostly beautiful color phase of the American black bear occurs only in isolated areas and in very small numbers. We approached the area where the black mother and two cubs, one a silvery shade and the other a bluish-grey, both sporting a darker facial mask, had been spotted before. At first we saw only one bear—a large black adult—but this was not one of the “blue bear” family. However, as we continued around the point, we saw all three of them, two of whom are pictured above. It was a thrilling first for many onboard but we weren’t finished yet! After lunch, we spotted four wolves—two adults and two pups—ranging in color from black through brown to grey. Wow! Could it get any better?
Continuing on, we encountered not only the more common tufted puffin, but horned puffins as well, not to mention several species in the Laridae or gull family, plus oystercatchers, cormorants and more. We cruised by a sizable (and seriously smelly) haulout of Steller sea lions and got within easy visual range of hundreds of sea otters rafted together in the kelp beds, being their cute, if voracious, little selves. As we sailed past humpback whales on our way out of the bay, we shared our reflections on the experience and basked in our tremendous good fortune.
It was one of those days - the kind that makes you want to stay in Alaska indefinitely. We began our (pleasantly dry) morning at the face of the Johns Hopkins and Gilman glaciers, surrounded by lolling harbor seals and the tumult of fracturing ice. The tops of the mountains standing sentinel behind the glaciers pierced the clouds now and again as we bobbed and rolled in the waves made by splashing bergs. We made our way out of the inlet during breakfast and took in the views of the Lamplugh glacier and the aptly named Gloomy Knob as the Sea Bird headed towards Geiki Inlet. The choice had been made to forego other areas of the bay in favor of Geiki in the hopes of seeing the elusive and immensely rare glacier bears that we had seen there the previous week. This ghostly beautiful color phase of the American black bear occurs only in isolated areas and in very small numbers. We approached the area where the black mother and two cubs, one a silvery shade and the other a bluish-grey, both sporting a darker facial mask, had been spotted before. At first we saw only one bear—a large black adult—but this was not one of the “blue bear” family. However, as we continued around the point, we saw all three of them, two of whom are pictured above. It was a thrilling first for many onboard but we weren’t finished yet! After lunch, we spotted four wolves—two adults and two pups—ranging in color from black through brown to grey. Wow! Could it get any better?
Continuing on, we encountered not only the more common tufted puffin, but horned puffins as well, not to mention several species in the Laridae or gull family, plus oystercatchers, cormorants and more. We cruised by a sizable (and seriously smelly) haulout of Steller sea lions and got within easy visual range of hundreds of sea otters rafted together in the kelp beds, being their cute, if voracious, little selves. As we sailed past humpback whales on our way out of the bay, we shared our reflections on the experience and basked in our tremendous good fortune.
