Today was our first full day of exploring and it did not disappoint. We started our morning in Iyoukeen, hiking into the temperate rainforest. We saw heaps of bald eagles and banana slugs. After lunch our guests joined our naturalists on the bow looking for wildlife. As dinner finished, our amazing captain made an announcement: “Humpback whales bubble-net feeding!” This is a quite rare corporative feeding event that humpback whales do here in their feeding grounds. We watched as a group of 12-15 individuals fed together with a few bonus breaches. What an absolute magical first day!
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 28 Jun 2023
Misty Fjord, 6/28/2023, National Geographic Sea Bird
- Aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird
- Alaska
Kimberly Wood, Staff
Kimberly A. Wood is a Hawaii based international marine researcher, photographer, filmmaker, boat captain and educator. Her research focus is often based in population distribution, diversity and habitat usage of cetacean species, however, she has al...
Read MoreShare Report
Alaska Escape: LeConte Bay, Wrangell and Misty Fjords
VIEW ITINERARYRelated Reports
5/29/2025
Read
National Geographic Sea Bird
Endicott Arm
Dawes Glacier, located at the head of Endicott Arm in Southeast Alaska, is an active tidewater glacier in the remote Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness Area. Reaching the glacier requires a 30-mile journey through a narrow fjord lined with sheer rock walls rising over 3,000 feet. These cliffs are veined with waterfalls and often blanketed in mist. Throughout the fjord, remnants of the glacier float in the form of icebergs. The glacier feeds cold, silty meltwater into the fjord, giving the water a distinctive milky-green hue and supporting a rich marine food web. Harbor seals were hauled out on ice floes near the glacier. Gulls and Arctic terns were actively feeding, likely drawn by the small fish and plankton concentrated by the glacial outflow. The glacier calved several times, hurling large chunks of ice across the water’s surface, sending the birds fleeing. The sound of the ice hitting the water echoed off the steep rock walls that rise thousands of feet on either side.
5/27/2025
Read
National Geographic Sea Bird
Dawes Glacier in Endicott Arm
We could not have asked for a better way to end the expedition. Our last day was amazing! Visiting Dawes Glacier in Endicott Arm was a highlight with its crystal-blue ice and resting harbor seals floating by on the ice. In the evening, we even got to see a couple of humpback whales off the bow of the ship. We ended the day by watching images of the beautiful moments created on our expedition during the famed guest photo slideshow.