Glacier Bay National Park
Today our expedition took us into one of the world’s largest wild and protected areas, 3.3 million acres of mountains, glaciers, forests, and waterways—Glacier Bay National Park, which is within a 25 million-acre UNESCO World Heritage site. Traveling about 65 miles from the park entrance, we awakened at Jaw Point for a spectacular view of Johns Hopkins Glacier. Stretching on the aft deck early, we joked about inventing “polar yoga” as the weather was more aligned to the typical Alaskan temps and conditions—overcast with intermittent rain. Definitely more chilly compared to the last two days, and demanded another layer for comfort. That did not deter our enthusiasm, for after breakfast, the National Geographic Sea Bird headed up Tarr Inlet to view the grand dame of glaciers, named Marjorie. A mile wide and approximately 25 stories high, she calved dead center shortly after we arrived, sending several stories high of ice spilling into the water, creating a substantial wave that a slowly made it way towards our vessel, and a second wave of oohs and ahs echoing throughout the ship!
The rest of our morning was highlighted with some interesting natural history of the park by ranger Emma Johnson, and cultural interpreter, Irene Lampe, representing the Tlingit Indian tribe. A bear siting drew us back outdoors where we observed a sow and cub forging close on the shoreline for intertidal invertebrates, seemingly not noticing or caring that they were the subject of so many photo ops. We continued our way south, spotting a few mountain goats around Gloomy Knob before heading inside to warm up and nourish ourselves with a perfect lunch of chili and cornbread.
Our afternoon was full with more wildlife around Marble Island—a haul out for too many to count sea lions, nesting birds like the beautiful tufted puffin, pelagic cormorant, and glaucous-winged gull. Irene gave an insightful talk about the life of her people before the cataclysmic advance of the glacier that forced them to leave their homeland around 1750, and because of their resiliency, how they have returned and now consider this region their spiritual homeland. She also graced us with a few of her native songs, a real treat to our ears.
Recap was highlighted with three young persons aboard being awarded Junior Ranger badges, and sharing a report on an animal they chose to research within Glacier Park. Everybody was happy for a leg stretch after dinner as we docked at Bartlett Cove, the park headquarters, and a chance to visit the lodge as the day ended in this pristine wild place that we were lucky to visit.
