We arrived to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve very early in the morning and by 6:00 a.m. picked up some very special guests, a park ranger and two cultural interpreters. They spent the entire day aboard and enhanced our experience in that magnificent place. Glacier Bay is one of Southeast Alaska’s wonders and has been intriguing and inspiring people for many years; it is also a natural laboratory where we can comprehend the process of nature creating and colonizing new habitat. The entire 80-plus-mile-long bay was completely covered with ice when George Vancouver sailed in front of it in the late 1700s, but then the glacier experienced a very dramatic retreat revealing the beautiful bay it carved. The whole process is very appropriately summarized by the Tlingit name Sit-ee-tea-gay-YEE, meaning “the bay in place of a glacier” and shows the intimate relationship between the early inhabitants of the area and their environment. The bay is now home to a number of creatures, many of which we had the chance to watch; right after finishing breakfast we arrived to a group of islets known as the South Marble islands where big numbers of non-breeding Steller’s sea lions rest and where numerous marine birds nest. We watched blacklegged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged gulls, pigeon guillemots, black oystercatchers, bald eagles, and everyone’s favorites, the tufted puffins.
After leaving South Marble we watched several blows in the distance and a humpback whale breached a few times. Later, we encountered a pod of resident killer whales that were traveling north; some individuals were swimming right next to shore whereas some others remained in deeper waters. We followed them for a long time and had the chance de observe some of them at close range and even one that breached once. What a treat to have had the privilege of watching killer whales in two consecutive days! At some point our attention was diverted from the killer whales to mountain goats; numerous nannies with their young kids grazed around or rested peacefully enjoying the sunshine. We all delighted in watching one particularly active and playful kid that ran and jumped all around her apparently unconcerned mother.
As National Geographic Sea Bird continued her way to the north end of the bay, we watched a couple of adult brown bears on shore, possibly a mating pair and also one sow with her cub. Soon afterwards we arrived to the end, where the magnificent Margerie and Grand Pacific glaciers awaited for us; we watched in awe the grandeur of the 250 ft. tall face of the Margerie and even saw some calving followed by the impressive thunderous sound the massive chunks of ice made as they hit the water. Eventually we started making our way south and had the chance to watch some other glaciers and of course the gorgeous vistas of the Fairweather Range on a rare sunny day. We arrived to the park’s headquarters at Bartlett Cove shortly after dinner and went ashore to stretch our legs and admire the forest trails, feeling very lucky for having had the opportunity to enjoy such a spectacular day.
