Glacier Bay
We continue to search on board for the person or persons responsible for the weather, for once again, we have a bright, sunny morning to wake up to. The breeze that started yesterday is still with us, but the day is another to be thankful for. We heard sounds in early morning of the ship stopping at the entrance to Glacier Bay National Park and the boarding of Park Ranger, Kerry Jones. Kerry will be with us all day, providing on-board interpretation of our itinerary as we cruise north in the Park to the northern end of Tarr Inlet at the terminus of Grand Pacific Glacier.
Sea Lion was adjacent to South Marble Island just after breakfast, offering us time to watch the wildlife hauled out on the rocky beaches – Stellar sea lions numbering a hundred or more, snorting and creating lots of noises that sea lions make. Shortly after, we met in the forward lounge for a briefing by Kerry Jones about the history of the park and its highlights. Park maps were distributed to us for further information to help us find our way as Sea Lion cruised northward. Kerry advised us to watch for brown bears, black bears, moose, and wolves on the shore as we cruised.
As Sea Lion cruised north in Glacier Bay, we observed those elusive white spots on cliff faces and ridges, otherwise known as mountain goats. (If they’re not goats, just another snow patch.) Although small, when they moved we had good views of them with binoculars and a spotting scope on the forward deck. An occasional eagle appeared, flying close enough to marvel at this magnificent bird. A short turn off the main bay into Tidal Inlet afforded good looks at more goats, but the park bears seemed to have slept in this morning. As we moved further toward Russell Island, scenery changed slightly, from denser vegetation with more trees, to sparser terrain with fewer trees because of the relatively recent retreat of glacier ice in Glacier Bay.
Glaciers that still terminate in Glacier Bay itself – tidewater glaciers – were observed on the west side of the channel toward our northernmost objective, Grand Pacific Glacier. Finally, with Margerie Glacier on the port side of the ship and Grand Pacific Glacier directly ahead, we had reached our farthest point. The terminus of Margerie stood about 150 feet above the water, a mile wide, and was even kind to us to provide some calving of small icebergs. Grand Pacific, on the other hand, appeared to be in a stage of advanced ablation at the terminus, with considerable debris (ablation moraine) on its surface, and no calving. Harbor seals treated us to some fancy moves in the water, cormorants perched on a nearby iceberg, and kittiwakes chattered away at their nesting sites on nearby cliffs and in the water. Tufted puffins suddenly appeared in the water and in flying mode, thrilling all that had not seen this bird previously, one of two puffin species in the Pacific region. An immature eagle perched on an iceberg to offer delightful views and photography of this normally shy bird. Having an experience like this – calving iceberg just a quarter-mile from the ship; an eagle, seals, puffins, kittiwakes, cormorants; plus the magnificent weather of sunny skies – is an opportunity of a lifetime.
In the afternoon John Splettstoesser presented a slide-illustrated talk on ‘Ice is Nice – Glacier Ice and Icebergs”, which was a good review of the features we had seen since leaving Juneau.
Heading south once again out of Glacier Bay, we had another chance to see the sights once again and search for wildlife. We reached park headquarters in the evening, and our park ranger, Kerry Jones, left the ship to a hearty congratulation for his excellent narration presented during the cruise in the park.
We continue to search on board for the person or persons responsible for the weather, for once again, we have a bright, sunny morning to wake up to. The breeze that started yesterday is still with us, but the day is another to be thankful for. We heard sounds in early morning of the ship stopping at the entrance to Glacier Bay National Park and the boarding of Park Ranger, Kerry Jones. Kerry will be with us all day, providing on-board interpretation of our itinerary as we cruise north in the Park to the northern end of Tarr Inlet at the terminus of Grand Pacific Glacier.
Sea Lion was adjacent to South Marble Island just after breakfast, offering us time to watch the wildlife hauled out on the rocky beaches – Stellar sea lions numbering a hundred or more, snorting and creating lots of noises that sea lions make. Shortly after, we met in the forward lounge for a briefing by Kerry Jones about the history of the park and its highlights. Park maps were distributed to us for further information to help us find our way as Sea Lion cruised northward. Kerry advised us to watch for brown bears, black bears, moose, and wolves on the shore as we cruised.
As Sea Lion cruised north in Glacier Bay, we observed those elusive white spots on cliff faces and ridges, otherwise known as mountain goats. (If they’re not goats, just another snow patch.) Although small, when they moved we had good views of them with binoculars and a spotting scope on the forward deck. An occasional eagle appeared, flying close enough to marvel at this magnificent bird. A short turn off the main bay into Tidal Inlet afforded good looks at more goats, but the park bears seemed to have slept in this morning. As we moved further toward Russell Island, scenery changed slightly, from denser vegetation with more trees, to sparser terrain with fewer trees because of the relatively recent retreat of glacier ice in Glacier Bay.
Glaciers that still terminate in Glacier Bay itself – tidewater glaciers – were observed on the west side of the channel toward our northernmost objective, Grand Pacific Glacier. Finally, with Margerie Glacier on the port side of the ship and Grand Pacific Glacier directly ahead, we had reached our farthest point. The terminus of Margerie stood about 150 feet above the water, a mile wide, and was even kind to us to provide some calving of small icebergs. Grand Pacific, on the other hand, appeared to be in a stage of advanced ablation at the terminus, with considerable debris (ablation moraine) on its surface, and no calving. Harbor seals treated us to some fancy moves in the water, cormorants perched on a nearby iceberg, and kittiwakes chattered away at their nesting sites on nearby cliffs and in the water. Tufted puffins suddenly appeared in the water and in flying mode, thrilling all that had not seen this bird previously, one of two puffin species in the Pacific region. An immature eagle perched on an iceberg to offer delightful views and photography of this normally shy bird. Having an experience like this – calving iceberg just a quarter-mile from the ship; an eagle, seals, puffins, kittiwakes, cormorants; plus the magnificent weather of sunny skies – is an opportunity of a lifetime.
In the afternoon John Splettstoesser presented a slide-illustrated talk on ‘Ice is Nice – Glacier Ice and Icebergs”, which was a good review of the features we had seen since leaving Juneau.
Heading south once again out of Glacier Bay, we had another chance to see the sights once again and search for wildlife. We reached park headquarters in the evening, and our park ranger, Kerry Jones, left the ship to a hearty congratulation for his excellent narration presented during the cruise in the park.
