With high clouds and calm, we started our day --,
picked up our Ranger and headed up bay.
South Marble Island was the first stop we made,
Puffins and Kittiwakes, eggs being laid.
Past the noise and confusion of all the birds on the wing,
growled Steller Sea Lions; juvenile males playing king.
A long, lanky black bear was strolling the shore.
Don’t go back in the woods, we want to watch more!
Mountain goats grazing in high alpine meadow,
look like little white dots to us down below.
Entering Tidal Inlet, scanning the scene,
a large eagles' nest behind cottonwood screen.
Scoters, mergansers and harlequin ducks,
we're starting to realize our incredible luck.
Mother goats with their kids came next into view
on Gloomy Knob’s shoulders, a hoary marmot too.
Two bald eagles sat stonily on a low rocky ridge.
Were they fishing or nesting or hungry for those kids?
A bit farther on, two brown bears appear.
Hard to spot at first, but soon they are clear.
A huge chocolate male circles and snuffs;
courting blonde female, his advances she rebuffs.
Another brown bear making the rounds of his turf,
clambering over boulders and wading through gentle green surf.
Lunch was announced and we traipsed down below,
reluctant to leave this magnificent show.
At the head of Tarr Inlet we found immense walls of ice.
Towering blue pinnacles that had sculpted this gneiss.
Sitting in the sunshine, we watched calving galore,
and after an hour, we still wanted more.
Bear on the shore! Was the call from the bow.
Scaling the cliff face, and we wondered how
he’d escape from this apparent trap.
But his plan was different, he just wanted to nap.
Around the corner to the head of Johns Hopkins
filled with growlers and pupping seals, we weren’t allowed in.
But the view from Jaw Point was serene and sublime
we felt the chill of the ice age, we’d stepped back in time.
Back out the west arm, and toward Bartlett Cove,
past Lamplugh and Reid, our eyes were aglow.
Dolf spoke of the riches of this green, rainy land,
and urged us to treat it with gentle hand.
Just as we thought our sightings were done,
a swimming moose sighted sent us all on the run
from dining room to the bow at a polite sprint.
Where is she going? We all gawk and squint.
An evening walk on the trail by the lodge --
boardwalk past still pond, just a little mud to dodge.
A cute little porcupine scratching its back
high in a spruce tree, searching for a snack.
The sun finally setting, we came back to the ship,
contemplating the moments of this miraculous trip.
