We started this sunny day at Bartlett Cove, where we picked up our National Park Ranger Sean Neilson. We also had two Tlingit native interpreters, William Horton-Garrison and Bertha Franulovich, join us on board National Geographic Sea Bird for the day.
We stopped at South Marble Island to view the abundant wildlife found here in the middle of Glacier Bay. We spent some time viewing seabirds such as tufted puffins, cormorants, mew gulls, and murres. There were also Steller sea lions hauled out and swimming in the water. One of the biggest surprises was seeing sea otters swimming in the water on their backs. As we cruised up the 60-mile-long Glacier Bay, we admired the ice-covered 15,000 foot Mt. Fairweather soaring above the glaciated mountains surrounding the bay. We heard the amazing story of how this huge bay was rapidly emptied of ice during the 1800s during one of the most rapid deglaciations ever recorded on Earth.
Later in the morning, we cruised into Tidal Inlet, where we saw a black bear up on the wooded slope. We were amazed by a dangerous-looking mountain, where part of the mountain is posed to slide down into the inlet in the future.
On Gloomy Knob, we saw several mountain goats, including an amazing nanny and kid pair down near sea level. The geologist explained the visible juxtaposition of tilted limestone layers, vertical igneous dikes, and horizontal glacial striations.
After lunch, we spent over an hour in Tarr Inlet at the head of the fjord, where the water turned from a turquoise color to a sage green hue. There were thousands of white icebergs all around us as we slowly approached the glaciers. On the left was the brilliant white mile-wide face of Marjorie Glacier, and on the right was the two-mile wide black face of Grand Pacific Glacier. We watched the incredible calving of huge chunks of ice falling off Marjorie Glacier, when they created loud “white thunder,” huge splashes, and big waves. After each calving, there were hundreds of black-legged kittiwakes flying over the calving area in search of fish that were stirred up by the impact. There were several bald eagles flying overhead, too. As we pulled away from the glacier, we saw a mother brown bear and cub as they were eating and climbing a vertical rock cliff. Near Lamplugh Glacier, we saw much larger icebergs, another mountain goat, and even a whale!
We had a relaxing afternoon lying in the warm sun, talking on the bow, and sorting the hundreds of photos taken in this beautiful place. After dinner, we all got off the ship at Bartlett Cove to go for a forest hike. Most of us walked on a boardwalk around a kettle pond, which was formed by a chunk of glacial ice melting in the terminal moraine after the glacier started its dramatic recession 200 years ago. Some guests went on an adventurous hike to see the ancient tree stumps left over by the last glacial advance 300 years ago, when the advancing ice plowed down a conifer forest. We all got to see a beautiful sunset over the distant Fairweather Range… a gorgeous end of a gorgeous day we will remember the rest of our lives.
