July 6 Left Bartlett cove at 8am aboard the Arctic Dream, traveling up bay along the west side of Willoughby, Francis and Drake islands to Tarr Inlet.
It was rainy and the ceiling was fairly low for an hour or so. The low clouds made the ice bergs appear rather ghostly. We started to see ice bergs near Blue Mouse Cove, they were traveling down bay with the tide. Some of the bergs were black with sediment, others very clear of debris. Given how dark with sediment and rock the Grand Pacific Glacier is, I suspect that the darkest bergs are from that glacier, but I'm not sure. We had great views of the Lamplugh, Reid, John Hopkins, Margerie and Grand Pacific glaciers on the trip up the west arm of the bay.
Lamplugh Glacier
Lamplugh Glacier is a stable or slowly retreating glacier. It is 16 miles long, 3/4 of a mile wide and moves 1,200 ft each year. It was named after an British geologist, George Lamplugh, 1859-1926 who visited the bay in 1884.
We stopped moving up bay around the Margerie Glacier as the ice was very thick in the water. I was wishing that we had a steel hull instead of fiberglass. The path through the ice would close and open as we approached the glacier, the photo was taken at a relatively ice berg free moment.
The folded appearing sediment and ice in the face of the Margerie glacier was pretty interesting. I' m assuming that the eye shape was formed by folding of layers of ice and sediment,
Margerie Glacier
but I suppose that it could have been formed in other ways. Perhaps a large fissure was formed and one side collapsed on the other? I suppose that the folding could occur as the glacier moved through a narrower point of resistant rock?
The Margerie is a stable glacier, niether receding or advancing. It towers about 250ft above the water line, and to 100ft below it. The glacier is 21 miles long and one mile wide. It was named after Emmanuel de Margerie 1862-1953, a french geologist, who visited the bay in 1913. Both the Margerie and Lamplugh were named by Lawrence Martin of the USGS. There was a cliff adjacent to the Margerie is a large Kittiwake breeding colony. Every tiny bit of a ledge seemed like it had a bird sitting on it. Apparently Horned and Tufted puffins, Arctic Terns and Glaucuous winged gulls also nest on the cliffs. There is a bit of a discussion of this colony at the following website http://www.inforain.org/glacierbay/CATALOG/HTM/ICEEDGE.HTM
The Grand Pacific Glacier was named by John Muir in 1879. Apparently when Muir named it, the glacier it was joined with what would be called the John Hopkins and the Reid glaciers. In 1892, after recession had seperated the glaciers, Muir retained the name Grand Pacific for the largest and most northerly arm and named the middle arm John Hopkins. The Reid was named by the Harriman Expedition in 1899.
The wind started to pick up so we backtracked to anchor in Reid inlet. The wind was pretty fierce (35 kts) off the glacier in the afternoon. Fortunately it died down in the evening.
Saw what I presume to have been a female (mom) bear and an older cub (2 years?) along the beach at Russell island. She was pretty intently investigating something on the beach, while the other bear sat and watched. After a few minutes she went up into the brush and a few minutes later the younger one followed. 
According to the Park visitor's guide the Reid Glacier is about 9.5 miles long and flows about 800ft each year. It is slowly receding, but is still quite close to being a tidewater glacier. The face varies from 20 to 130 ft above the water line.
The photo was taken just before low tide in the evening.
What was really striking for me in Glacier bay was being able to see the shape of the land without vegetation. I'm only accustomed to seeing relatively bare rock if the temperature, slope or water level is preventing establishment of much vegetation. This isn't a great photo, but the active fan and incised slopes are quite easy to see. There are plenty of places in Tenakee Inlet or Hoonah sound that look like this if one adds some rain forest. Interesting to see the land before the vegetation really takes hold.
Finally saw what I could positively say was a Kittlitz's murrelet. We saw several. They are distinctly lighter, more golden in color and much more difficult to see against the silty water. There were also a multitude of Marbled murrelets, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Glaucous winged and Bonaparte's gulls, Arctic Terns and a few Pigeon Guillemots.
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