Glacier Bay

Tuesday July 3 to Monday July 9

Welcome from a Sea Lion

Greetings from two Humpback Whales

The entrance to Glacier Bay is a favorite feeding ground for whales. We saw lots of orcas. We watched a humpback lunge feeding and breaching. It made a loud noise when it came up for air; don't remember ever hearing that before. We anchored in Fingers Bay and immediately saw a wolf on the beach.

East Side of Glacier Bay

Wednesday, we cruised up Geikie Inlet and anchored at the head of the inlet for a lunch stop. There was snow right down to the water. The bears are having difficulty finding enough food this year because of the cold. Anchored overnight in Shag Cove on top of an underwater mountain with a depth of 105 feet - that's quite deep. We set the deep water anchor alarm to ensure that the anchor could not slip un-noticed off the mountain during the night.

Raven Song in front of Reid Glacier

Thursday, we cruised to Reid Inlet and anchored on a narrow shelf behind a peninsula. We took the dinghy up to the glacier at the head of the inlet. We landed the dinghy a little way from the glacier and scrambled over the rocks to get a better view of the intense blue of the ice. Little pieces of ice called "bergy bits" were floating in the inlet; we gathered a nice piece for our gin and tonic! The Australian boat Betty Mc was already at anchor here. The owners and their dinghy were not here and we concluded that they had gone out exploring. As it got later and they had not yet returned, we became more and more concerned about them. Fortunately they finally turned up after having spent hours in their dinghy exploring the various glaciers. We invited them in for dinner and warming up.

Reid Glacier		Reid Glacier
Panorama of East Side of  Glacier Bay		Nancy and Urs Getting Some 300-Year-Old Ice Michael, Judy, Nancy, Urs Drinking Gin and Tonic in 300-Year-Old Ice

Bergy Bits on Way to Margerie Glacier

Friday was very cold. The overnight rain caused a lot of ice to calve off some of the glaciers. The bigger bergy bits could potentially damage the hull; it was similar to navigating through a thick field of logs, but quiter. Johns Hopkins Glacier was named by HF Reid, who had studied geology at Johns Hopkins University. The larger bergy bits in Johns Hopkins Inlet are the home of seal moms with their pups. This inlet is usually not open until later but there was so much ice that it was effectively closed anyway. We headed up Tarr Inlet [Tarr was another geologist]. The quantity of floating ice made finding a route very difficult; it was slow going. We got about 1.5 nm (2.7 km or about 2 miles) from Margerie Glacier [E de Margerie was a French geologist]. A motor boat turned around and actually left the park before their permit was finished because of the conditions! We talked on the radio with a tour boat; they had been able to get to within 0.5 nm of the glacier. We finally found a path through the ice on the east side of the inlet and ended up directly in front of the glacier's wall in clear water with no other boat around! Heard and saw Margerie calving. Anchored near Russell Island with buckets of rain coming down.

Margerie Glacier		Margerie Glacier
		Judy, Michael, and Nancy -- This was July 7!!!

Indian Paintbrush

Saturday, the ice got as far south as the entrance to our anchorage in Blue Mouse Cove. We picked up some more ice for our drinks before anchoring. We took the dinghy ashore for a walk along the stony beach and picked some flowers and grasses for the vase in the galley window.

East Side of Glacier Bay		Judy and Nancy watching Lucy's Flowering Tea Grow
Grizzly Bear on Beach		Bergy Bit

Who ever gets enough of sea otters?

Sunday was a gorgeous day! The sun was out and it was warm - Michael even put on shorts! We spotted a grizzly bear on the beach and observed it at length. We headed across Glacier Bay and watched the very high mountains of the Fairweather Range rise behind the closer mountains surrounding the bay. Visibility was crystal clear. We cruised around South Marble Island, carefully observing the park's specified distance limits. We observed hundreds of sea lions on the rocks as well as nesting Kittywakes and Tufted Puffins. At the end of the day we anchored in South Sandy Island cove and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset.

Stellers Sea Lions with Young on South Marble Island		Stellers Sea Lions on South Marble Island
Tufted Puffins at Rest		Tufted Puffins Taking Off
Black-Legged Kittywakes Nesting on South Marble Island		Black-Legged Kittywakes on South Marble Island

Looking West at the Fairweather Mountain Range

Sunset at Sandy Island Cove

Monday was the last day of our permit. We headed back to Bartlett Cove. We filled up our water tanks and said goodbye to Michael and Nancy. As we had to be physically out of the park by evening, we headed west to the Inian Islands. There were lots of humpbacks at the entry to the cove. There was smoke from a cabin in the woods and a sign on the beach saying, "Tourists Rape Alaska". We read that the owner of the cabin has lived there for a number of years, even raising a son there. She just doesn't like people around. Apparently, there are other people like that in Alaska; they just like living in what Alaskans call themselves, "The Last Wilderness".

Norwegian Pearl

Bald Eagles on a Bergy Bit

Mountain Goats

Blossoming Willow