Patty and Bill's Excellent Alaska Adventure
(Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation)
Glacier Bay National Park
Glacier Bay National Park was truly amazing. The scenery and wildlife was incredible. Our day in Glacier Bay started early in the morning, when our ship docked at the entrance to the park and a Park Ranger and a Cultural Interpreter joined us for the day. The two of them provided information about the wildlife, the glaciers, and the Native cultures in the area.
Copyright 2006. Patty Hankins.
Sea Otters were our first major wildlife siting in the park. They were floating on their backs among the seaweed - and absolutely adorable.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
This image is available for purchase.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
This image is available for purchase.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
As we continued to cruise in Glacier Bay, we came upon the tufted puffins!
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
This image is available for purchase.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
This image is available for purchase.
Here is one taking off - you can see it seems to get a "running start".
Copyright 2006. Patty Hankins.
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Next, we found a group of Steller sea lions basking on the rocks.
Copyright 2006. Patty Hankins
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A single Steller sea lion watches us go by.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
We did learn the differences between seals and sea lions - as you can see in the photo below, sea lions have visible ears, longer front fins, and back fins that can be used to walk (no one said anything about gracefully) on land. The fins on the seals are really made for swimming; on land the mainly crawl on their bellies.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
Here's a group stretched out together.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
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Here's a tern (not sure what type) coming in for a landing - for as wide an expanse of water as we were in, it was amazing how calm the water was.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
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And a mountain goat (and yes they really do look like fluffy suitcases with legs on the hillsides)
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
At the northern end of our cruise in the park, we spent some time at the Margerie Glacier. The Margerie Glacier is approximately one mile wide, 250 feet tall, 400 feet deep and extends back 14 miles from the water. To give you an idea of the scale of the glacier - the cruise ship in the photo - the MS Veendam is 728 feet long and carries 1250 passengers.
Copyright 2006. Patty Hankins
And of course - where you have glaciers, you have icebergs.
Copyright 2006. William Lawrence.
After a wonderful day in Glacier Bay National Park, we headed to Skagway and Haines.
Other Pages of Photos from our Cruise
Ketchikan, Hyder, Petersburg, Tracy Arm, Frederick Sound, Sitka, Skagway and Haines
Hankins-Lawrence Images, LLC
All images © Patty Hankins or William Lawrence
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