Guests aboard National Geographic Sea Bird woke to a classic Southeastern Alaskan morning with a stunning vista of the sheer face of Margerie glacier. As we sipped our cocoa and coffee to warm us from the bracing catabatic winds, pleasant conversation was occasionally punctuated by the abrupt thunder crack of calving hunks of ice breaking and plummeting to the sea below. After a sumptuous breakfast we admired the stunning blues of Lamplugh glacier before passing through the narrows of Russell cut in search of wildlife. Although only white winged scoters and a red throated loon could be spotted in this narrow pass, shortly thereafter we came upon a bull moose foraging along the rocky shoreline and seemingly contemplating the swim across to the nearby islands, rich in gillyweed.
At the marble outcrop of Gloomy Knob, amongst the swirls of mist we spotted a lone mountain goat high on the cliff tops and a few even caught a glimpse of a distant marmot perched proudly atop the gossamer heights. In nearby tidal inlet we passed several sea otters and a massive raft of surf scoters seeking safety in numbers in the wake of the catastrophic molting period which leaves them flightless.
After lunch National Park Ranger Andrea Eide discussed the most charismatic of the local seabirds shortly before our arrival at South Marble Island. Sure enough the place was packed with gulls, pelagic cormorants, and an abundance of tufted puffins. Birders were delighted by the appearance of several of the much rarer horned puffins with their clown-like breeding plumage bobbing in the water surrounding the island while others admired the dozens of Steller’s sea lions. Before dinner we fanned out into the forests of Bartlett Cove enjoying the moss-laden forests and lily pad filled ponds surrounding the park ranger station.
