We woke up to clear blue skies and not a breath of wind as National Geographic Sea Lion entered into one of the jewels of the National Park system. The National Parks are celebrating their centennial with special coverage in the National Geographic magazine for the entire year. We would experience first hand the incredible beauty that the park has to offer. After breakfast the ship approached South Marble Island where many seabirds nest during the summer. From the bow we could see common murres, pigeon guillemots, black legged kittiwakes, and everybody’s favorite- the tufted puffin. The most boisterous of the animals seen on the rocky islets was also the largest; the Stellar sea lion. These largest of the eared seals can weigh close to 2,000 lbs. Many were in the water and on the low rounded rocks off of South Marble Island. A dozen or so came out to greet the ship before turning back towards the haul out. We ventured on to Gloomy Knob where the warm weather motivated the mountain goats to find shade from the oppressive sun. There were about a dozen spread out along the marble rocks attempting not to exert themselves. Further north into Russell Cut revealed nothing of interest so we broke from glassing the slopes for lunch before reaching the north end of the bay.
After lunch we arrived to the face of Margerie Glacier, one of the most impressive in the park with its 150 foot cliffs of bright white ice. At times many tons of ice cascaded down into the sea as the tide water glacier calved due to the ocean water eating away at the face of the glacier. Calving is geology on a human time scale as snow that turned into ice just a few hundred years ago high up in the mountains now returns from where it originated in the ocean.
As we returned down bay the weather held, and the scenery was incredible while we traveled along the western side of the bay. The ship dropped off the ranger and cultural interpreter and welcomed a special guest for an after dinner program. Kim Heacox, a National Geographic author came on board to read from his new book about John Muir and his adventures in Alaska.
