We had a permit to enter Glacier Bay National Park 7/15/2024 to 07/19/2024. Permits are very serious and hard to get. We applied the first day that we could, and were successful to get the dates that we wanted. However, with only 25 pleasure craft allowed in day to day, they are much sought after. And thank goodness Paul answered his phone the night before to confirm we were coming; he did not know we had to confirm that we were using our permit.
Unfortunately it poured rain most of the day and the extended forecast looked pretty glum – rain daily for the forseeable future. On the way in to Barlett Cove, the wildlife was awesome with porpoises swimming in front of the boat and loads of otters back-floating along-side.
We anchored in Bartlett Cove and took the Fournado in for the mandatory orientation at 12pm. They talk about speed limits in whale zones (we don’t go that fast anyhow. In addition, you have to travel one mile from shore, as the whales feed close to shore.), what areas you are allowed to travel to and the rules for viewing wildlife. Despite it being desolate, they also have mandatory quiet hours in the anchorages that tend to get busier. They didn’t have much guidance on fishing to my surprise, although 0x0=0, so doesn’t seem to matter for us.
We grabbed lunch at the lodge and then headed out, much to the kids’ delight, for a 1 mile hike in the rain. We have realized that as long as you wear your rain gear and dress warmly enough, life is good.
It finally stopped raining as we were heading into Shag Cove to anchor, and Sophie spotted a mama grizzly and her three cubs. We grabbed binoculars and watched as mama waded into the water to fish. She pulled a mammoth fish (we now believe it was a porpoise) out and let her cubs feast, while she overlooked from the beach. They continued to stand guard and snack through the night and into the next morning, when the eagles tried to move in.
No rain the next morning, so Sophie and I got out for a beautiful kayak ride, testing our boundaries with the bears and paddling along with porpoises.
