A few years back, as the ice from the previous winter was melting, we were fortunate to have a bird’s eye view from the deck of a Princess Cruise ship. Some of the wistful private boats and humorous sea gulls in Glacier Bay National Park, were just a sampling of one particularly memorable day.
Cruising up Tarr Inlet, this capable motor-sailer is dwarfed by the magnificent coastal mountains.
lies the Grand Pacific Glacier, 25 miles long and 2 miles wide at its terminus, shown here. Not seen here, but only 12 miles (19 km) WNW of the sailboat’s mast, is 18,008 ft. (5489 m.) Mount Saint Elias. Considering the proximity of sea level and the top of the mountain, the perspective is dramatic.
Of course, powerboats also navigate the ice floes in these waters. Very small by comparison to cruise ships, both the beautiful sailboat and cruiser above looked to be in the impressive 50 ft.+ (15 m.) length.
Supply and Demand!
Melting ice limits real estate for these gulls.
It seems quality seafood is ALSO in demand here!
FOOD FIGHT!
The gull in front, of course, has the morsel while a no holds (or feathers) barred scramble is on!
Clicking on images will display higher resolution
Thanks for viewing, and comments are always welcomed
Copyright Mvschulze
Nice.
We did one of the Alaska cruises in September of 2012 (documented on the blog, of course), and enjoyed the experience (will likely do at least one more up there).
Those are nice captures, especially the seagulls.
Thanks, I’ll be checking that out. Since you replied, I realized the images were posted as low resolution, and have since brought them up to what I intended. Clicking on now, will present them in full res. M
Still nice.
Quite awe inspiring, great photos using the sail boat to give a sense of scale … and what delightful gulls squabbling over their little bit of ice and food! Do you know what gulls they are?
Thanks Christine. These would be common Herring Gulls. Here’s a link if you need more info:http://www.fws.gov/alaska/mbsp/mbm/seabirds/pdf/hegu.pdf
In the scramble photos, there is one adult, ID’d by his black wing tips. The other are younger, and a bit “juvenile” in their behavior! 🙂
A little more….in the last photo, I’d like to think the adult gull (see the black) is cooler than the rest. Instead of wildly pursuing the one with the food, he whacked the “kid” in front of him in the back of the head and dunking his head under water! It was probably his offspring! At least that’s what I like to think! M
Love this Marty. Would love to go on an Alaskan cruise one of these days, it’s on the list! Thanks for showing what we could see if we ever do 🙂
Wonderful photos! They do just what travel photos should do . . . make me want to visit there!
Wonderful trips You take .
Alaskan mountains seem so captivating – very powerful nature’s attractiveness .
Those gulls look completely the same as these we have here, very adroit and imaginative birds.
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Had to share these gorgeous photos with my boy who just learned that the highest peak in the US is in Alaska. And talk about food fight. We saw two gulls at it last summer over a piece of bread. It got vicious! Beak stuck on beak, they wouldn’t let go.
Our trip to Alaska in 2008 was remarkable, and I would strongly recommend a visit or two. We were fortunate to see Denali (formally known as Mt. McKinely) from that park, the weather excellent; and the glaciers were equally as awsome from the ship. I’m sure your boy would treasure such an adventure. Thanks for the comment. M 🙂
Yes, we learned its other name Denali. Very cool, your trip.