Anyone who gets a chance to spend a day in Glacier Bay is lucky. Anyone who gets a chance to spend a day in Glacier Bay on a day when it’s clear enough to see mountaintops is extra lucky. Today was just one of those days. We started at the bottom of the bay in Bartlett Cove where we went for walks in the moss-covered woods. We listened to white-winged crossbills call from the treetops and watched porcupines clamber slowly along tree branches.
After our walks, we boarded National Geographic Venture once again and began our journey up the bay. Our first stop at South Marble Island gave us views of countless birds flying to and from their nests, including tufted puffins and common murres. Next, we visited Gloomy Knob, where we spotted a bear eating barnacles and mussels in the intertidal along the shoreline. Farther along, we observed more bears lumbering along the meadow edge in Russell Cut. As we reached the top of Tarr Inlet, we looked miles up the Grand Pacific Glacier and watched Margerie Glacier calve mighty icebergs into the glacial flour-filled waters. As we cruised up and down the bay on this sunny day, we marveled at the mighty mountains that rise straight from the ocean. Their snowy peaks fed the glaciers that carved this bay.
