Dundas Bay - wildlife wonderland

Our location tonight: Dundas Bay

This post isn't about Glacier Bay Park, which requires a permit to visit by boat. But it starts with our attempts to get into the park. Only 25 boats are allowed in the park at a time and many people (more organized than us) book up to a year in advance. Therefore permits are hard to get. Our first application, which we made two days ago, was turned down so we reapplied for different dates. Luckily someone canceled their permit and we were rewarded with a five day cruising permit. We will post about our Glacier Bay cruise later.

But our permit starts on the 27th so we had two days to spend elsewhere. We chose to take a look at Dundas Bay, which is a few hours cruise west of Glacier Bay and is included in the park boundaries but does not require a permit. On the way we fished a bit and kept three salmon for the table.

When fishing was over we headed into Dundas Bay and what a wonderful place it is. The overcast and fog patches did not detract from the experience. The setting and the scenery are amazing - raw, rough, and wild. The essence of wilderness. This area, like Glacier Bay, was under 4000' of ice only 80 to 100 years ago. The landscape shows the passage of the ice - smooth rock, u-shaped valleys, silty blue waters, and ravaged river courses.

Our pictures can't do it justice but here are a few anyway. The rules prohibit approaching too close to marine mammals so we shoot at max telephoto and then zoom in for some detail.

U-shaped valleys gouged by the glacier.

In 1850 the Little Ice Age ended and since then the glaciers have been receding. In their place, life has advanced. To say this place is full of life is an understatement. What was once bare rock is now covered with a rich carpet of rain forest. It is one of the richest marine environments that we have witnessed yet. On the way to our anchorage in the West Arm we saw humpback whales, Dall's porpoises, seals, sea lions, sea otters, 1000's of birds of so many species, fish jumping, fish being eaten... and capped off by a brown bear wandering the shoreline.

No matter which direction we looked the sky was filled with birds

There were so many birds all around that it looked like we were in a snow storm. So many sea otters too! We saw many hundreds. Some in groups. Moms with their pups. Others as singles. And everybody is busy making their living. The place is popping with activity. 

A humpback whale mom with her calf.

A group of sea otters is called a raft. This raft is about 25 animals.

 A pup

A pup with its mom

The brown spot on the beach is a brown bear. In British Columbia we call them grizzly bears.

Cropped image. He is watching us.