Ushk Bay, Alaska, 7/13/2024, National Geographic Quest
Aboard the
National Geographic Quest
Alaska
We spent our final day on National Geographic Quest in the stunning Ushk Bay. The quintessential Tongass National Forest rain amplified the lush green landscape.
Shore excursions included bushwhacks, moderate hikes, and casual strolls, offering guests a variety of ways to explore. Everyone relished their hikes as we wrapped up our final onshore adventure together.
Karson has been working on the water for the last 15 years. A San Francisco native, she holds a 100-ton USCG captains license and PADI Divemaster. Karson attended UC Santa Cruz and received a bachelor's degree in Anthropology, focusing on Archaeology...
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We started the day with Zodiac tours of South Sawyer Glacier, a tidewater glacier. The air was cool, and it rained throughout the day, but that made the waterfalls gush. The walls of the Tracy Arm were dark yet glistening, and blue icebergs recently calved from South Sawyer Glacier stood out. The sea water stood in contrast against the ice. The brown of the land flushing into the sea swirled with a rusty hue that turned out to be a zooplankton bloom. The misty afternoon was spent kayaking from the base of one of the waterfalls with icebergs in various forms carried by nearby currents. It all made for a fantastic backdrop with swallows swooping close to the output of the falls, arctic terns darting and calling above, harbor seals cautiously following along, and pigeon guillemots surfacing with a whole silvery fish in their bills. After such a fantastic day, we finished up by viewing numerous waterfalls cascading down the steep fjord walls and a look at Sawyer Glacier misted in fingerlike clouds. What a beautiful sight.
This morning, National Geographic Quest picked up a park service ranger and headed into the heart of Glacier Bay National Park. After breakfast, Ranger Allie gave us an introduction to the birds and history of the glacially carved landscape that we would spend the day exploring. When we arrived at South Marble Island, we all bundled up and headed out on the bow to see the amazing profusion of life that uses the small island to rest and nest. Steller sea lions, horned and tufted puffins, common murres, black oystercatchers, and the occasional sea otter left an air of excitement among the crowd as we cruised the eastern shore of the island. Further down the fjord, we saw our first bear of the trip in the intertidal. Turning over rocks large and small, the coastal brown bear was foraging on mussels, barnacles, and looking for small fish left behind in the receding tide. The excitement did not end there, as we rounded the corner and found eleven mountain goats on Gloomy Knob! After lunch, we spent some time in front of Johns Hopkins Glacier, one of the few advancing glaciers in Alaska. Glacier Bay National Park did not disappoint with its incredibly grandiose landscape full of wildlife.
