Blessed again by clear skies at dawn, we woke this morning in serene waters within Glacier Bay. Our ship docked for a short while at Bartlett Cove to pick up a National Park Ranger, Andrea Markell, and a local Alaskan native, Naa Kis ti or "Faith," who would be our Cultural Heritage Guide for the day. Joining Andrea for the day were several newer park guides in training. Faith and Andrea welcomed us to the park where we would be spending our entire day.
As we began our journey "up the bay," we had excellent views of the mighty Fairweather Mountain Range rising into the sky to the northwest, brilliantly covered in thick winter snow. Sea otters bobbed in the water along the way. We headed first to South Marble Island where we found hundreds of Steller sea lions, and throngs of seabirds. There were many black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged gulls as well pigeon guillemots. A favorite attraction was undoubtedly the numerous, colorful tufted puffins that were seen swimming, perching, and flying around this small and bustling seabird rookery.
We continued northward, pausing by the sculpted gray ledges of Gloomy Knob to enjoy excellent views of mountain goats and a nesting bald eagle. The goats showed off their climbing skills as they ascended precipitous cliff faces with relative ease. Farther up the bay we passed through Russell Cut, still searching the shores for elusive bears. We eventually found a brown bear wandering on the shores of the West Arm. We paused for a quick and hearty lunch of hot chili and cornbread, with ice cream sundaes. As we did, the bear conveniently lay down and took a nap on the beach. After we came back out on deck, the bear woke up and ambled down the shoreline in front of us, and then up a snowy slope.
We reached the end of the West Arm of the bay where the dark, rock-covered, Grand Pacific Glacier meets the sea near the white and blue icy mass of Marjorie Glacier. We sat beside Marjorie Glacier for quite a while, occasionally treated to calving events, as well as a bald eagle that flew in -- as if on cue -- and swooped up to perch on a pale blue spire of ice on the glacier's face. From the far northern end of the bay, we turned southward again, pausing to glimpse an adult and yearly moose lying among willows. We later made a detour into Blue Mouse Cove, hoping to get a closer look at a black bear along the shore. As the bear wandered into the trees, a wolf was sighted on the other side of this small bay. We turned the ship for a closer view, as this lone wolf continued searching the shorelines of the bay. It was a beautiful wolf, its dark coat a color somewhere between coal and wet spruce bark. Leaving the bay, we passed close by a sea otter contentedly watching us as we drew near.
After dinner, we arrived at Bartlett Cove where the headquarters of the National Park as well as the Glacier Bay Lodge are located. Here, we enjoyed a chance to stretch our legs with leisurely walks through the moss-laden spruce and hemlock forest that now grows on this area that was once the terminal moraine deposited by the ancestors of the glaciers we were watching today.
