Glacier Bay National Park
Broken clouds and pale greenish water greeted us as the new day unfolded. A fast ebbing tide slowed our voyage up the bay and gave us more time to view the spectacular mountains around us. Our first sighting was of a lone male killer whale. His tall dorsal fin was bent over at the tip which made him easy to recognize as T40, a transient, a type of killer whale that specializes in eating other marine mammals. Harbor seals are their primary prey here.
We were soon at South Marble Island, a nesting area for seabirds including black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged gulls, common murres and tufted puffins. Steller sea lions are also found here. In the past this site was used only by male sea lions, but in the last few years more and more females have been seen here, including those nursing older pups. They can suckle a year or more. Most are born in late June to early July and begin following their mothers on foraging trips after one month. Today we saw some of these older pups but also saw a very small baby that is the youngest any of us have observed here. It looks like it was born within a week or two.
More sights awaited us as we continued up the bay. A young bull and a female moose stared at our ship as we finished a delicious brunch. They made a slow retreat into the fringing band of alders and willows, but most of us had good looks. A mountain goat grazed near us, while two others watched nearby as we passed Gloomy Knob, a dolomite outcrop.
We passed into Johns Hopkins Inlet and wound through bergy bits until the glacier stretched out before us. Harbor seals lay on the floating ice that separated us from the end of the fiord. We watched the 200-foot white wall and waited. We really wanted to be impressed. About the time some of us were thinking that this is a bit like watching paint dry, pieces from a huge central column began to crumble and splash into the water. Then more and more pieces fell as the very foundation of a huge section collapsed. Falling ice was obliterated by water shooting skyward. We made a lot of noise too.
We continued on to Russell Cut where a female brown bear and her two small spring cubs grazed amongst the alders. After dinner we took a fast walk around Bartlett Cove before an evening of visiting and playing games back on board.
Broken clouds and pale greenish water greeted us as the new day unfolded. A fast ebbing tide slowed our voyage up the bay and gave us more time to view the spectacular mountains around us. Our first sighting was of a lone male killer whale. His tall dorsal fin was bent over at the tip which made him easy to recognize as T40, a transient, a type of killer whale that specializes in eating other marine mammals. Harbor seals are their primary prey here.
We were soon at South Marble Island, a nesting area for seabirds including black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged gulls, common murres and tufted puffins. Steller sea lions are also found here. In the past this site was used only by male sea lions, but in the last few years more and more females have been seen here, including those nursing older pups. They can suckle a year or more. Most are born in late June to early July and begin following their mothers on foraging trips after one month. Today we saw some of these older pups but also saw a very small baby that is the youngest any of us have observed here. It looks like it was born within a week or two.
More sights awaited us as we continued up the bay. A young bull and a female moose stared at our ship as we finished a delicious brunch. They made a slow retreat into the fringing band of alders and willows, but most of us had good looks. A mountain goat grazed near us, while two others watched nearby as we passed Gloomy Knob, a dolomite outcrop.
We passed into Johns Hopkins Inlet and wound through bergy bits until the glacier stretched out before us. Harbor seals lay on the floating ice that separated us from the end of the fiord. We watched the 200-foot white wall and waited. We really wanted to be impressed. About the time some of us were thinking that this is a bit like watching paint dry, pieces from a huge central column began to crumble and splash into the water. Then more and more pieces fell as the very foundation of a huge section collapsed. Falling ice was obliterated by water shooting skyward. We made a lot of noise too.
We continued on to Russell Cut where a female brown bear and her two small spring cubs grazed amongst the alders. After dinner we took a fast walk around Bartlett Cove before an evening of visiting and playing games back on board.
