After navigating overnight through Glacier Bay National Park, we awoke to see the first rays of sunlight on Margerie Glacier at the northern end of the park. As we approached the gigantic river of ice, we noticed a lone transient killer whale traveling along side of the National Geographic Sea Lion. Our attention, however, quickly returned to the glacier as massive pieces of ice calved from the face and into the sea. Our guests and naturalist staff gathered on the bow as we turned south from Margerie Glacier and, with our binoculars at the ready, we were treated to a day packed full of wildlife sightings including brown bears, mountain goats, and tufted puffins.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 02 Jun 2018
Glacier Bay National Park, 6/2/2018, National Geographic Sea Lion
- Aboard the National Geographic Sea Lion
- Alaska
David Spiegel, Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
David grew up in the Seattle area, where he fell in love with nature through outdoor sports in the Pacific Northwest. He first picked up a camera during a 14-day Grand Canyon river trip at the age of 18. Little did he know that his hobby would morph ...
Read MoreAshley Karitis, Assistant Expedition Leader
Ashley was raised in Central Oregon where she spent her childhood ski racing, riding horses, playing classical piano, and working summer jobs on a dude ranch. She then attended the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in ...
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Alaska's Inside Passage
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9/6/2024
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National Geographic Quest
Glacier Bay National Park
We awoke to a wall of ice towering outside of the ship. Sometime in the night we anchored alongside the monumental Johns Hopkins Glacier. Along the base of the glacier, hundreds of harbor seals lounged on the rafts of ice, and stunning mountain views accompanied the impressive natural feature for which the park was named. After eating breakfast with a glacial blue backdrop, we pulled anchor and began our exploration of the park in earnest. We visited several more glaciers, including prime examples of tidewater, hanging, and beached varieties; we also observed large numbers of sea otters and surf scoters. After lunch we turned our focus to wildlife and were rewarded with views of mountain goats on Gloomy Knob, as well as a brown bear excavating a comfortable resting spot on the beach. Later we were treated to a surprise concert by one of our guests (award winning musician Jim Peterick). We wrapped up the day with a visit to South Marble Island where dozens of tufted puffins and large rafts of Steller sea lions gave excellent views.
9/5/2024
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National Geographic Quest
Inian Islands and Salt Chuck Bay
Today we began our adventures by dropping anchor at one of our favorite locations in Southeast Alaska, the Inian Islands! We disembarked National Geographic Quest to hop into our Zodiacs to explore this wild archipelago. Later in the day we repositioned to an anchorage in Port Althorp, known as Salt Chuck Bay. We got the chance to explore by kayaking as well as hiking through the meadow in the bay and the lush rainforest. It was a fantastic day in Southeast Alaska!