Passing through the Sitakaday narrows in the bright light of early morning the National Geographic Sea Bird steamed into Glacier Bay National Park to the backdrop of the snow-capped Fairweather Mountains. The misty plumes of humpback-whale blow rose in the distance while sea otters drifted past feeding on the abundant invertebrates or grooming their luxuriant coats. After breakfast we skirted alongside South Marble Island, a major haul out for the Steller sea lion and roosting place for seabirds. Tufted puffins with the candy-corn bills of breeding season sat on the water dipping their faces into the water to look for prey or stood by the entrances to their burrows on the steep slopes above. Common murres and marbled murrelets dove in the waters surrounding the ship in search of fish while juvenile sea lions leapt about playfully in the water.
Approaching the rocky promontory of Gloomy Knob the captain spotted a brown bear wading in the waters of a small creek. As we approached, a second bear emerged from the fringing forest and worked her way along the water’s edge browsing on vegetation. With the two bears to starboard, a keen pair of eyes spotted a single mountain goat high on the cliffs ahead. With more eyes soon trained to the search image, we realized that there were almost a dozen more scattered along the hillside including a nanny goat with a small kid.
Working our way deeper into Glacier Bay we arrived at Jaw Point to a stunning vista of the Johns Hopkin’s Glacier snaking its way up to the mighty Fairweather Mountains and the Brady icefield behind. We continued onward up the Tarr inlet to the foot of the Grand Pacific Glacier whose advance carved the deep fjord of Glacier Bay. As we stopped to look at the Margerie Glacier, a massive chunk of ice broke free from the sheer 250-foot face and plummeted to the water below, hitting with a mighty crack. After a few more “calving” events we turned back south to search for wildlife on our route back to the mouth of the bay. Sure enough, in the narrows of Russell Cut a massive brown bear foraged on beach strawberries near the mouth of a small creek.
After a delicious dinner, we landed in the tranquil waters of Bartlett Cove. Guests fanned out to explore the lush forest, the National Park Visitor Center, and the Tlingit Tribal House in the gleaming evening sun. As the sun set we tore ourselves away from this spectacular place with the consolation of rest and other adventures in the days to come.
