Glacier Bay
It was like another world coming out on the front deck of the Sea Bird in the early morning light. A cliff of ice towered 250 feet above us as the Johns Hopkins glacier flowed majestically from the surrounding mountains into the sea. As we watched, we heard periodic claps of white thunder when blocks of ice as big as a bus dropped into the water below. Finally a whole wall of ice collapsed, creating a splash more than 200 feet high and a surge wave that rocked the Sea Bird like a big storm at sea. The ice calving performance was repeated when we cruised up to the Margerie glacier at the very end of Tarr Inlet.
It was also a day for brown bears to demonstrate their foraging skills along the shoreline. Coming up to the Margerie we briefly saw a group of three young bears, who rapidly disappeared into the brush. Coming back, the same group was there, but this time we were able to follow them as they moved along the shore overturning boulders and sniffing in crevices in their search for seafood. At Tidal Inlet a mama bear and two cubs patrolled the shore of a stream trying to protect salmon that they had hauled to the bank from hungry gulls who were risking their lives in repeated attempts to snatch a morsel.
Goats were the feature attraction at Gloomy Knob. The first group of four was located high on a near vertical cliff and tough to identify as goats unless binoculars were used. Fortunately, a nanny and kid grazing close to shore were found not far away. Bird watchers were rewarded as we cruised slowly by South Marble Island. Puffins were a crowd favorite with both horned and tufted varieties seen, along with cormorants, kittiwakes, oyster catchers, pigeon guillemots, glaucous-winged gulls and common murres. Just for good measure there was a small herd of Stellar sea lions hauled out on the rocks with a few intrepid sea otters floating around them.
Our evening wrapped up with hikes through a not-so-old growth forest and a visit to the lodge at Bartlett Cove, where the Park Service has a small natural history museum complemented by a nightly ranger show. All in all another amazing day in Southeast Alaska--we look forward to more of the same tomorrow.
It was like another world coming out on the front deck of the Sea Bird in the early morning light. A cliff of ice towered 250 feet above us as the Johns Hopkins glacier flowed majestically from the surrounding mountains into the sea. As we watched, we heard periodic claps of white thunder when blocks of ice as big as a bus dropped into the water below. Finally a whole wall of ice collapsed, creating a splash more than 200 feet high and a surge wave that rocked the Sea Bird like a big storm at sea. The ice calving performance was repeated when we cruised up to the Margerie glacier at the very end of Tarr Inlet.
It was also a day for brown bears to demonstrate their foraging skills along the shoreline. Coming up to the Margerie we briefly saw a group of three young bears, who rapidly disappeared into the brush. Coming back, the same group was there, but this time we were able to follow them as they moved along the shore overturning boulders and sniffing in crevices in their search for seafood. At Tidal Inlet a mama bear and two cubs patrolled the shore of a stream trying to protect salmon that they had hauled to the bank from hungry gulls who were risking their lives in repeated attempts to snatch a morsel.
Goats were the feature attraction at Gloomy Knob. The first group of four was located high on a near vertical cliff and tough to identify as goats unless binoculars were used. Fortunately, a nanny and kid grazing close to shore were found not far away. Bird watchers were rewarded as we cruised slowly by South Marble Island. Puffins were a crowd favorite with both horned and tufted varieties seen, along with cormorants, kittiwakes, oyster catchers, pigeon guillemots, glaucous-winged gulls and common murres. Just for good measure there was a small herd of Stellar sea lions hauled out on the rocks with a few intrepid sea otters floating around them.
Our evening wrapped up with hikes through a not-so-old growth forest and a visit to the lodge at Bartlett Cove, where the Park Service has a small natural history museum complemented by a nightly ranger show. All in all another amazing day in Southeast Alaska--we look forward to more of the same tomorrow.
