Glacier Bay National Park
Today we were fortunate to spend time in one of America’s wonderful wilderness areas, Glacier Bay National Park. The morning was all about ice and glaciers. National Geographic Sea Lion slowly maneuvered through the field of bergy bits, pieces of ice that recently calved off the John Hopkins glacier. We had our first look at a few harbor seals resting on the ice. There was so much ice that we could only gaze at this glacier from a distance, but what a view.
Later on we were introduced to Tlingit cultural interpreter Alice and to National Park Ranger Emily. Alice taught us several Tlingit words while Emily told us all about the park’s history. Then we sailed to the northern end of the bay and spent awhile in front of the majestic Margerie Glacier. What an experience to stare at the 300 foot wall of ice with the hope to see a large piece calve off into the sea. Margerie was fairly quiet but we saw small groups of kittiwakes feeding at the glacier’s edge.
The rest of the day we slowly sailed south back to the bay’s entrance. We had fantastic views of a young brown bear romping along the shoreline. Then we had an excellent sighting of several female mountain goats with their kids of the year, grazing low down at Gloomy Knob. This was exciting to see as these mountain goats are usually found much higher up in the hills during this part of the summer. The last wildlife highlight of the day was at South Marble Island where we had close looks at both the Horned and Tufted Puffins! These colorful birds are nicknamed the clowns of the sea and are in the last stages of their breeding season so we were fortunate to see so many of them.
We were treated to a very special evening recap. Alice, the Tlingit cultural interpreter, played her special hand drum and sang lovely Tlingit songs and blessings. Then National Park Ranger, Emily, shared a wonderful poem and played her violin to bid us farewell. All and all we enjoyed a memorable day in one of the wildest of America’s National Parks.
