Part IX - Glacier Bay National Park

June 27 – July 3, Glacier Bay National Park

From Flynn Cove we headed to Point Adolphus which has historically been a hot spot for feeding whales.  In 2011 we saw roughly 50 feeding both on our way into and out of Glacier Bay.  This year we saw only two.  The fish finder showed lots of something in the water at 25 to a couple of hundred feet.  My suspicion is that the something was large clouds of krill – the primary food of humpback whales.  We tried trolling for salmon but were not successful.

What we did see at Point Adolphus and elsewhere were a lot of sea otters.  On our first trip to Alaska we only saw a couple while inside the park.  This time we saw probably 20 at Point Adolphus and another 20 at the park entrance.  Inside the park sea otters were just about everywhere.  All together we probably saw close to 200.  Eventually I decided I had enough photographs and quit trying to get more.

Three sea otters in Icy Strait

GBNP Sea Otter

Our first night was at park headquarters at Bartlett Cove where we were required to sign in and attend a briefing on regulations including where we were allowed to cruise.  On our first full day in the park we tried halibut fishing for several hours then dropped anchor in Blue Mouse Cove. 

During the thirty years Linda and I have been cruising we have seen Harbor Porpoises frequently.  These small animals are shy and usually travel in small groups.  You usually get to see an individual only once or twice as it comes up for air.  In the presence of a boat they tend to sound and you never see them again.  Unlike what we had always observed in the past, as we were drift fishing for halibut several Harbor Porpoises took an interest in Hobbit and kept cruising around us.  After we anchored in Blue Mouse Cove, one porpoise kept cruising back and forth under and beside Hobbit.  It was really neat to see them under water right beside us.

Harbor Porpoise by Hobbit

We awoke at Blue Mouse Cove to the sound of Alaska sunshine (rain) beating down on Hobbit, and the presence of low clouds - an ominous start for our journey north to Tarr Inlet and the Margorie Glacier.  Fortunately, as we continued north the rain slowly diminished then stopped and the clouds lifted high enough to show us the fantastic scenery in GBNP.  Sea otters seemed to be everywhere, and we stopped once to observe a grizzly bear turning over rocks and feeding on the beach at low tide.  Cash grabbed my camera with the 100-400 mm zoom lens and proceeded to take about 500 pictures - filling up both the CF and SD picture storage cards.

Cash’s “Tessybear”(colored like his dog Tess)

Cash’s photos of the grizzly

When we entered Tarr Inlet a cruise ship was just leaving.  The timing was really fortunate as the cruise ship provided us a nearly ice berg free path most of the way to the glacier.  Using the radar, I positioned Hobbit 1/4 mile from the face of the glacier.  One quarter mile is the recommended closest approach as a large calving event can trigger a potentially dangerous tidal wave.  Once in position, we launched Cash in the dinghy to take pictures of Hobbit.

On the way out we stopped several times to take photographs of a seal or eagles on an iceberg and a tufted puffin which is a lifetime first for me.

Margorie Glacier

Hobbit in front of Margorie Glacier

Seal on an iceberg

Tufted puffin

As we approached Reid Inlet where we were planning to spend the night the three of us were discussing how few whales we had seen in the park.  Just then a whale surfaced no more than 50 feet from Hobbit, let out a large exhale, then did a deep dive leaving a large splash right beside us.  We grabbed our cameras hoping the whale would surface nearby but gave up after ten minutes.  We anchored for the night in front of the Reid Glacier in 70 feet of water.  In spite of the rain, which returned as we neared the end of our day, Cash took the dinghy to shore just after high tide.  As he wandered around we noticed the dinghy going high and dry.  Eventually we were able to get his attention using our SOS light and, using hand signals, directed his attention to the dinghy.  With great effort Cash managed to get the dinghy back into the water.  He arrived back at Hobbit soaking wet and a new lesson learned.

Reid is a dagger shaped inlet about a mile and a half long and half a mile wide at the inlet end.  The sides are steep, 60 to 70 degrees, and reach high into the clouds.  I’m guessing that 100 years ago Reid Glacier still filled the entire inlet several hundred feet high.  As it retreated it left the slopes covered with gravel ranging in size from pebbles to boulders.  Because of the steep slopes covered with gravel and short duration since the glacier retreated, very little soil is present to support vegetation.  A few trees are found on shallower slopes near the mouth, but most of the hillside is covered with shrubs and low growing vegetation.  So many small streams and waterfalls are present on the hills that the sound of rushing water is always present.  Unlike the Margorie Glacier which calves into the water, Reid Glacier is high and dry.  At low tide there were several hundred yards between the water and the glacier. 

We liked Reid Inlet so much that we stayed for two nights.  During our full day there we took the dinghy up near the glacier and walked to its face.  The glacier spawned many streams of water from the top, bottom, middle, and sides.  Glacial flour created a grey muddy surface on the beach which made walking difficult.  The glacial flour also turned the waters of the inlet an opaque light blue which limited visibility to only a couple of inches.

Linda trudging through glacial flour mud in Reid Inlet

Cash playing around Reid Glacier

Cash, Linda, and me in front of Reid Glacier

We left Reid Inlet on July 1 which happened to be the first day that the John Hopkins Inlet and glacier were open for viewing.  During May and June the inlet is closed because seals have their pups on the ice – a safe haven from bears and other predators.  Cruising up the John Hopkins Inlet was slow because of the large amount of ice bergs in the water.  On the way we passed the Lamplugh Glacier which is, itself, pretty impressive.  Ice blocked us from going the last couple of miles, but still, the John Hopkins Glacier and inlet were awesome.  While there we managed to photograph a couple of seals on the ice.

John Hopkins Glacier

Carnival Legend was with us in John Hopkins Inlet.

Once again Alaska sunshine set in and stayed with us all the way to North Sandy Cove where we anchored for the night.  After anchoring two harbor porpoise cruised around us.  It would be interesting to know what causes the behavioral difference between GBNP harbor porpoise and all the rest we have seen.

For the last night covered by our permit we anchored by the park headquarters in Bartlett Cove and took a nature walk with one of the naturalists.  The plan had been to leave in the morning of our last day but the weather forecast was for 15 knots of wind and 3 foot seas in Icy Strait.  Fortunately, there was an open permit for the next week and I was able to extend our stay for an extra day.  The highlight of the extra day was attending a talk by a Tlingit native in the new $5,000,000 community house in GBNP.  The park has developed a very close working relationship with the Tlingit community in Hoonah.  The Tlingit consider the park to be their native home.

Tlingit community house in GBNP

Leaving Glacier Bay was sad for all of us – nobody wanted to leave.  Glacier Bay is such an incredibly special place and offers a feeling I haven’t felt in any of the other National Parks I have visited. Others must feel the same because it is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It was also sad to leave because it meant we were turning south and heading home.