Today the Sea Bird hit the jackpot -- a clear, sunny day in Glacier Bay National Park, one of the crown jewels of Southeast Alaska. It was an action-packed day exploring the west arm of this marine coastal wilderness. Shortly after sunrise we departed the park headquarters at Bartlett Cove. As the ship cruised slowly through the Beardslee Islands, one of our guests spotted a black bear grazing on barnacles exposed along the shore with the falling tide.

Following breakfast, groups of puffins and other seabirds were seen around the Marble Islands. A short time later, a humpback whale repeatedly rocketed above the surface of the water, making a huge splash when it landed, a behavior called "breaching." Only moments later, a small pod of orca or killer whales were spotted off in the distance.

Then just before lunch, we encountered two brown bears (also called grizzly bears) fishing in a creek along the shore. One of the bears ran up and down the creek, lunging for salmon. As we watched quietly, the bear caught several fish and ate them before our eyes.

Following lunch, everyone gathered out on deck in the sunshine as the ship approached Johns Hopkins Inlet. The view from the bow as we approached Jaw Point was breathtaking. As the ship pushed slowly through the ice, the Johns Hopkins glacier finally came into view. As camera shutters clicked and the videos rolled, we each thought to ourselves -- it doesn't get any better than this!