Friday Funny 07-29/2022 (Bears, Glaciers, and Tourists, Oh My!)

We were in the neighborhood, so even though we've been to Glacier Bay Natl Park three times, we decided to go again. Each trip we spend time in just a few areas, so there's always something else to explore each time we go back. You must get a permit from the National Park Service, and the Fairweather visitor's guide is the resource for the park restrictions for ships, boats, kayakers, and campers. You can download it, and/or pick up a copy in the Ranger Station in Bartlett Cove. You must also attend or watch online the latest instructions, and radio when you're entering the park, as well as leaving. 

The Fairweather visitor's guide.

Or first anchorage was Berg Bay, we anchored in the back by a stream hoping to see wildlife, specifically bears, you can't help but see otters, they're everywhere. We were there two nights, and had pretty much given up, when Bill looked out the window during his morning coffee, and there was a brown bear grazing on the beach. He was turning over the rocks at low tide looking for goodies to eat.

He's a bit scruffy looking.

Gus is intently watching!

The next anchorage was Reid Inlet. This inlet has the large Reid Glacier at the head, it was once a tidewater glacier, but it appears to have receded, and isn't one anymore. 

Reid Glacier

We watched a couple of brown bears foraging on the beach one evening, and a seal floating by on his iceberg bit. 

I wanted to go back and see the Margerie Glacier, so we cruised up Tarr Inlet. This is one of the highlights of the park, all the cruiseships, small and large, the day sightseeing boats, and most personal cruisers put this on their destination list. 

Those power catamaran sightseeing day boats come from Juneau, and the park hotel, they are noisy, and throw a large wake. We can always hear them coming, and prepare for a wake jostling if needed. We've given them nicknames, Breaking Wind, Juvenile Delinquent, and Mad Max. It's not uncommon to hear us say, "Here comes Juvenile Delinquent!"

I have quite a few photos of the Margerie Glacier, I'll try not to post too many. 😀

Eating lunch, while floating in front of the glacier. Always keeping an eye out for calving, and bergs. 

This glacier extends beyond what you can see.

Bill decided to anchor in a small bight near the top of Tarr Inlet. We kept vigilant to spot out the bergs, but also, we got to net up small pieces to put in our cooler, and for G n Ts. Nothing like drinking with 100 year old ice!

Bill is using an actual ice pole that was gifted to us by our french friends, on S/V Tonga. They used it to move icebergs out of their way when they transited the Northwest Passage in 2017. See sharing the bay with 10,000 of our closest friends in the background.

G n T with glacier ice.

We had some great views from this anchorage, and listened to the glacier crack and moan. There was always new ice in the water everyday. 

Looking towards the glacier

View across the bay.

Many spectacular waterfalls.

On the way out, we stopped in Blue Mouse Cove, it's also a popular anchorage. We watched a brown bear sow, and her new cub on the beach. At one point Bill wondered where the cub had gone, I told him that the cub had crawled on Mom's head, so it was hard to see. 😁

She's the blondest brown bear I've seen.

"Hey MOM, look at me!"

And then this happened. This boat could see that we were standing there with our binoculars out, watching something. They drove in front of us twice, once I could see, but twice? Then they anchored right between us and the bears, really! Some people's children....

The bear was keeping an eye on them, and finally decided she had enough of humans, and walked off into the trees.

Bears, fireweed in bloom, and ocean, what could be more Alaskan? 

We saw a few whales in the park, but they were mostly in the distance, and no photos. We usually see more whales out of the park than in it. This year was definitely the trip for bears. 

As always, we enjoy hearing from you, either here in comments or on our Facebook Denali Rose Sailboat page.