Glacier Bay National Park
By 6am, Sea Lion had embarked Glacier Bay National Park Ranger Linda Lieberman and was headed north towards the heart of the bay. A stunningly clear day, we had a view of the full length of the Fairweather mountain range, including Mount Fairweather, named by Captain Cook in 1778. Many locals joke that Captain Cook was the last person to see the mountain.
Seven humpback whales fed around South Marble Island as we watched loons, tufted puffins, pelagic cormorants, common murres, bald eagles and hundreds of Steller sea lions. A bit later, at South Sandy Cove, a moose swam across a small inlet. Nearby, a black bear slept in the grass, just above the tide line. Behind us, another humpback. A few minutes later, we entered North Sandy Cove where a black bear was feeding in the grass while her two cubs of the year frolicked nearby. Around the corner, the black bear with her cub of the year alongside (in the photograph), was enjoying a meal of barnacles. All of this happened before ten in the morning.
Gloomy Knob is a gray, sparsely vegetated outcropping of dolomite heavily gouged with glacial striations. More than a dozen mountain goats were spotted, including a few just above the water level. Another humpback swam by. Tufted puffins clustered on the water’s surface. Still before our fine lunch.
The afternoon began with a long stay in front of the magnificent face of the Margerie glacier. Sun shining, blue ice glistening, calving to the sound that the Tlingit people called “White thunder.”
On our way down bay, the scenery was sublime. Ship’s historian Junius Rochester introduced us to “American and European Explorations in Alaska.” Seven humpback whales, a black bear, harbor porpoises and numerous birds were seen. After dinner, we landed at Bartlett Cove near the mouth of the bay and took a naturalist led walk through the woods. As we returned to the ship, the setting sun silhouetted the Fairweather range, seventy miles away.
By 6am, Sea Lion had embarked Glacier Bay National Park Ranger Linda Lieberman and was headed north towards the heart of the bay. A stunningly clear day, we had a view of the full length of the Fairweather mountain range, including Mount Fairweather, named by Captain Cook in 1778. Many locals joke that Captain Cook was the last person to see the mountain.
Seven humpback whales fed around South Marble Island as we watched loons, tufted puffins, pelagic cormorants, common murres, bald eagles and hundreds of Steller sea lions. A bit later, at South Sandy Cove, a moose swam across a small inlet. Nearby, a black bear slept in the grass, just above the tide line. Behind us, another humpback. A few minutes later, we entered North Sandy Cove where a black bear was feeding in the grass while her two cubs of the year frolicked nearby. Around the corner, the black bear with her cub of the year alongside (in the photograph), was enjoying a meal of barnacles. All of this happened before ten in the morning.
Gloomy Knob is a gray, sparsely vegetated outcropping of dolomite heavily gouged with glacial striations. More than a dozen mountain goats were spotted, including a few just above the water level. Another humpback swam by. Tufted puffins clustered on the water’s surface. Still before our fine lunch.
The afternoon began with a long stay in front of the magnificent face of the Margerie glacier. Sun shining, blue ice glistening, calving to the sound that the Tlingit people called “White thunder.”
On our way down bay, the scenery was sublime. Ship’s historian Junius Rochester introduced us to “American and European Explorations in Alaska.” Seven humpback whales, a black bear, harbor porpoises and numerous birds were seen. After dinner, we landed at Bartlett Cove near the mouth of the bay and took a naturalist led walk through the woods. As we returned to the ship, the setting sun silhouetted the Fairweather range, seventy miles away.
