Beyond flat calm water, cerulean blue skies, the Fairweather Mountain range, tufted puffins, sunshine, Steller sea lions, brown bears, sunshine, low down goats, and massive calving at Margerie Glacier, nothing much happened today….LOL.
South Marble Island might be more accurately called south marvel island—as that’s about all one can do when confronted with so much life! Bookends of sea otters, growling sea lions, black-legged kittiwakes on the wing everywhere, tufted puffin flybys, and even a pair of horned puffins patiently floating off the bow. There was a long line of handsome common murres dotted with the red-webbed feet of flying pigeon guillemots—just to name a few of the local residents.
About halfway up the bay the gray, rounded, sparsely vegetated dolomite slopes of Gloomy Knob offered spring tidbits to some grazing mountain goats. Watching them scamper up a steep slope behind a nesting bald eagle was a delight to all—the eagle didn’t seem to notice those sure-footed animals climbing above her Sitka spruce aerie.
Behind Russell Island, up in a boulder outwash, two adult brown bears hove into view—perhaps a mating pair? Though reasonably far off, the bears stood out from the white boulder field and the bright green alders around them, and we watched them amble easily through the rough terrain.
The sacred mountain revealed—Mt. Fairweather at 15,300 feet is one of the highest peaks on Earth to steeply rise so close to the sea. Her year-round snows keep several of Glacier Bay National Park’s icy attractions stable. Margerie Glacier, at the head of Tarr Inlet, was pretty much a show-stopper today. As we crossed the fjord toward the two-mile wide face, blocks and spires of ice continuously dropped into the sea, sending water splashing upwards and creating waves that gently rocked the National Geographic Sea Bird.
