Glacier Bay National Park
Early morning found the National Geographic Sea Bird making her way into the protected waters of Glacier Bay National Park. We cruised north and arrived to South Marble Island shortly after breakfast, where we were delighted by the abundance of life that calls this little place home; the most notorious creatures and the easiest ones to spot as we neared the island were the Steller sea lions. Many of them piled on top of each other on the rocks above the tide line, but some of them climbed their way up to the grasses, filling the air with their roaring and grunting. Avian fauna could be seen everywhere: black-legged kittiwakes nesting on the cliffs, common murres floating around in tight groups, glaucous-winged gulls calling from top of the island and tufted puffins flying around. Even a few horned puffins were seen swimming near the ship!
We continued sailing deeper into the bay and eventually made our way into Gloomy Knob, where we discovered a brown bear sow with her two cubs; we watched them for a long time as they descended to the beach from the cliff where they were resting when we first spotted them. Once on shore, they walked along the intertidal area looking for a meal among the many creatures exposed by the low tide, following the native Tlingit’s saying: “When the tide is low, the table is set.” They smashed and then licked barnacles and turned over big rocks looking for chitons, crabs or small fishes. We continued our journey and soon discovered several groups of mountain goats grazing and resting on top of the hill.
By the end of lunch we arrived to the northernmost portion of the bay, where the Margerie and Grand Pacific glaciers are. We admired their immense size and beauty and marveled as Margerie calved in front of us, producing most memorable sounds. We later watched the Lamplugh Glacier with numerous icebergs and bergie-bits and enjoyed a hike after dinner at Bartlett Cove to stretch our legs, ending our day exploring this magnificent bay.
