Our
last day in Gustavus was dedicated to the
Glacier Bay day cruise. We woke for
an early breakfast, checked out of the Annie Mae lodge and left our luggage there (they
will bring it to us by the end of the day). We were then driven to the dock in
Bartlett Cove, where we boarded the Baranoff Wind, concession of the national
park and operated by Allen Marine. We left the dock at 7:30AM
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Bartlett Cove Dock
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The boat is
fairly large (~150 passengers) with two inside levels and 3 outside decks. We
spent most of the day on deck, watching the scenery or looking for wildlife (or both!). It
was cloudy but no rain and reasonable visibility, although fog and clouds were hiding the
higher elevations, so we couldn't see the picture-perfect scenery with snow-capped
mountains. We could however see the bay and the surrounding shores, which were beautiful.
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Misty Glacier Bay
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Debb, a National Park ranger was on the boat and narrated
the tour most of the day, bringing our attention to what we're about to
see, or to any wildlife sightings. She
also provided some visual presentations you could watch if you want.
Immediately
after leaving the dock we started to see sea otters floating leisurely on the
water.
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Sea Otters
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Before we reached the bird rookery on South Marble Island, she gave a good
presentation on the different sea birds we are likely to see. So now I know how
to tell a horned puffin from a tufted puffin.
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Mountain Goats, Glacier Bay
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Mountain Goats
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The highlight was when we
saw a mamma brown bear and her 3 grown cubs foraging not far from the shore! The boat
slowed down so that we can take a good look and many photos
J. These were our first
brown bears in Alaska and we were very excited.
Further on the way back the boat picked up few
kayakers and backpackers who'd done a multi-day trip in the wilderness. Boy did
they look happy to see us!
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Picking up kayakers |
In the last
hour before reaching back to Bartlett Cove we spotted two humpback whales, as well as
some glimpses of Orca. This caused a lot of excitement on the boat, and it was fun to see, but
nothing like the whales we saw up close on the day before.
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Humpbacks in Glacier Bay |
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And Orcas as well |
Just before
arriving back at the dock the crew treated us with freshly baked chocolate chip
cookies which were great.
At
last we arrived to Bartlett Cove and were picked up by the Annie Mae van who
took us directly to the tiny Gustavus air terminal. On the road from Bartlett
Cove back to town we had another nice surprise when a big black bear crossed the road
just in front of us! He quickly disappeared into the forest and we didn't have a chance to take
photos but it was a great finish to our Glacier Bay adventure.
Overall
we had great time on the boat and enjoyed our time in Glacier Bay and Gustavus.
Mid-August is already considered 'end of season' there and we were told June
and July typically have better weather and more action. Getting there takes
time and staying there is not cheap but overall it's a great place to visit,
especially if you are already in SE Alaska. I wouldn't call it 'must see' since
you can have similar landscapes and experiences elsewhere in Alaska. But we're definitely happy we
visited it.
In
the terminal we checked in for our Alaska Airlines flight to Anchorage via
Juneau. It was cloudy when we departed Gustavus but once we reached Juneau
clouds opened up and we could see the huge Mendenhall glacier from the air.
The flight from Juneau
to Anchorage was actually the most scenic flight in our entire trip. Flying
over the Wrangell St. Elias and later the Chugach mountains, we were able to see
snowy peaks piercing the clouds and the huge glaciers and ice fields covering
the mountains. This was truly awe inspiring.
We landed in Anchorage around 9PM. Weather was surprisingly nice, with scattered clouds and twilight sun. We
picked up our rental car from Hertz (we were upgraded to a very nice VW Passat)
and drove ~15 minutes to the
My Place hotel where we would stay the night. The hotel is quite new, which is probably why we got an
excellent deal for the room (compared to Anchorage summer rates). The hotel has
a convenient midtown location, and our room was large and clean, and more than
adequate for our short stay.
It
was still light outside and we decided to go for a late dinner in the nearby
Moose Tooth (5 minute drive), after reading so much about. It was after
10PM on a week night but the place was still very busy and we were asked to wait... but after 5 minutes we got
our table. We really liked the atmosphere and the local crowd - definitely felt
like an 'institution'. Food was OK, beer was good and a chocolate-cherries
cheesecake we ordered for desert was excellent. Prices were totally reasonable
for what we got.
Thus ended a very long day starting at the Glacier Bay dock
and ending in the Moose Tooth! Tomorrow we start the 'land part' of our Alaska
vacation.
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