Our first full day on the Sea Bird started with an excellent look at a pod of 8-10 Orcas (Killer whales). Then four bears showed up along the shores of Tracy Arm, a fjord on the mainland than runs between 800-1,000 feet deep on an average. At the upper end of Tracy Arm we find the South Sawyer Glacier wedging itself between the steep walls. The iceflows from the "calving" events of the glacier were covered with Harbor seals. Most of the seals seen were females with pups. On our morning Zodiac ride one group witnessed the end of a seal birth, and another group saw a group of ravens competing with two immature and two mature Bald Eagles for the afterbirth.

Afternoon found us in Williams Cove with a variety of choices; one group went on a long bushwhacking hike, others on a short hike and then did some kayaking around the cove. Even first-time kayakers got the hang of it, and spent some time investigating a nearby, grounded iceberg. Several of our groups were enamored with the incredible variety of life in the shallow tidepools. Sand shrimps, snails, barnacles, and a bunch of critters that only a marine biologist would venture a guess as to what they were called. The old shells that layered the bottom of the pools were literally moving as the life underneath and above scrambled around. We can see why millions of shorebirds make the long trip from their winter home in Central and South America to nest in the northland. One of our naturalists brought back a sample of barnacles from a tidepool, and showed them to us on the ship's video microscope hooked to the TV. There they remained throughout recap, the small fans shooting out time and time again to catch microscopic plankton for a meal.