There are some interesting and impressive facts about Glacier Bay National Park and Reserve, our destination for scenic cruising today. Glacier Bay is the largest national park in Southeast Alaska and the world's largest protected marine sanctuary. Of course it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a whopping 3.3 million acres, making it bigger than the state of Connecticut. Like we said.....impressive.
There are over 1000 glaciers in the park, however, only a dozen or so are tidewater glaciers that reach the bay. The scenery is stunning with snow and ice-capped mountains, ocean coastlines, deep fjords up to 800 feet in depth, and freshwater rivers and lakes. We were in for a treat with today's wildlife sightings. A word of warning came in today's newsletter stating: Do not feed the wildlife as it is strictly prohibited and dangerous to the health of the sea birds in particular. And please do not throw anything overboard.
By the time the park rangers boarded the ship from Bartlett Cove at 6:15am, the temperature was a chilly 50 degrees, overcast, with a slight wind of 3 mph. The humidity was 82% and there was no sign of rain, just some lingering fog up high over the ridges. The rangers set up "camp" in the Crow's Nest and were ready for their narration by 8am. Usually we go to breakfast , which was 8am in the Pinnacle, but we did not do that this morning because we did not want to miss passing by Gloomy Knob. Sometime around 8am, the Zaandam approached this hunk of granite rock with an elevation of 1331 feet. What we were searching for were the mountain goats that inhabit his area. The ranger was on the lookout from the bridge and pointed out what most folks would not see clearly without binoculars or a powerful camera lens. Having been past this spot many times over the years, we know where they tend to hang out. Appearing as a grain of rice, we did snap several photos of these creatures as they grazed or sat on the edges of the rocks.
Then came a big surprise with the sighting of a black bear that was spotted by the ranger. He delivered a very detailed description of where to look for the bear, and we did see it rather easily on the sandy beach of a dry river outlet. Now here's the funny thing......we did not realize at the time of filming the bear, we actually got photos of another larger Grizzley bear up higher in the thicket that the ranger had not seen. We may have spotted some bears near this area several years ago, so this sighting was the icing on the cake. Doing some research, we learned that the smaller black bear could weigh up to 300 pounds, while the Grizzley can top off at 1000 pounds. No wonder the smaller bear looked nervous. There was another small expedition vessel that operates day tours out of the Glacier Bay Lodge. They were able to get much closer to the shoreline.
It was a good time to get some breakfast, but arriving later than usual, we had lost "our" table, which did not surprise us. We do not expect the staff to save it for us every day. The service was just as good sitting at the large table under the dark still life painting.
The ship continued up the bay to reach Margerie Glacier around 9:45am. It is one of the larger tidal glaciers that we are able to access for an hour's visit. The Captain held the ship for the port side viewing, then slowly turned for the starboard folks. For those who went out on the bow and deck six forward, they got the full view for an hour. Although we did hear some loud cracking in the ice, we never saw any calving today. That has been the case for the last couple of years coming here.
Around 10am, Dutch pea soup was served on the outside decks. We do know that this special soup will be served at the Dutch dinner this evening, and we will save it until then.
Another surprise awaited us with a quick visit to Johns Hopkins Inlet and the glacier of the same name. There have been times when we spent more time in this inlet, but there was only enough time to duck in, then go back out. No calving here either.
On the way out around Jaw Point, we passed by Lamplugh and Reid Glaciers, which were visible to the starboard people when we headed back in the bay. We stayed bundled up until we passed Gloomy Knob once again still searching for the goat sightings. Yes, they were still there. During the course of the morning we also saw numerous sea otters, sea gulls, some eagles, three blue herons flying high migrating souith for the winter, and one humpback whale near Gloomy Knob. Thinking we were seeing things, we looked up the blue heron to find out they are common to this area, and not strictly a mangrove bird. Google's AI said they migrate south from here in September. We did sail close enough to the Marble Islands to see the Stellar sea lions this time.
After completing a few lectures in the lounges, the rangers packed up and left the ship by 3:30pm. Naturally, we spent the remaining time enjoying the many pictures that were snapped. Then we did order room service lunch with a shared club sandwich, an overabundance of French fries, and a full plate of cubed watermelon. Someone must have thought we were starving to deliver 2 plates of fries, which we only ate ½ of them.
There was the usual Orange Party this evening, so all the guests were asked to wear a splash of orange. And the theme of the dinner was Dutch with casual dress suggested. It has been a bit on the cool side in the dining room, so most everyone had sweatshirts or sweaters on along with jeans and boots. Our meal consisted of hot Dutch pea soup, a small shrimp cocktail and one Westland salad. Mains were Bami Goreng and hodge podge brisket like a stew. Both very good. Dessert was one small Lindt tulip and one tiny scoop of mint chip ice cream. By the way, the Pinnacle had the Morimoto by Sea pop-up dinner at $55 per person plus 18% gratuity.
Pulong, our most friendly Maitre'd stopped by the say goodbye as he will be leaving for an overnight stay in Ketchikan, then joining the Nieuw Amsterdam the following day until December. He will be missed.
There was a show tonight with singer Anita Newby. We are sure the performances are well attended with this cruise being only 7 days. People squeeze in every activity, which is far different on a longer voyage.
We are headed for Ketchikan, the final port of this trip. Seems like we were just there...... Yes, we were back in late April while on the world cruise.
Bill & Mary Ann
