Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve guide · 2 min read
Whales, Seals and Otters of Glacier Bay
Each summer, humpback whales swim north from their winter range near Hawaii to feed in the bay.
Their diet here centers on small fish that travel in schools, including sand lance and young pollock. Orcas, also known as killer whales, feed in the park's nearshore waters alongside minke whales and harbor and Dall's porpoises. Whales can surface in unexpected spots, so park rules ask boaters to proceed cautiously wherever they are present.
Harbor seals live here by the thousands, and mothers raise pups on ice drifting in Johns Hopkins Inlet. Many of them also breed among the reefs of rock around the Beardslee Islands. Sea otters are spreading into the bay quickly, reaching the waters of Icy Strait and Cross Sound as well. Along the beaches, brown bears walk the shoreline when the tide is low, lifting stones to find barnacles and clams.
Johns Hopkins Glacier sits in the bay's western arm and sheds so much ice that vessels can rarely get close to its face. The Beardslee Islands lie a short run from Bartlett Cove, the park's only developed area, and they make a good destination for a day of paddling. Tides there can raise and lower the water by up to twenty-five feet, so at low tide large stretches turn into mudflats and timing a visit takes some thought. The area is also a good place to look for moose, bald eagles, bears, seals and whales.
South Marble Island is a small, isolated island that boat tours often pass very close to. Steller sea lions haul out on its flat rocks between feeding trips, and more than 300 can crowd together there at once, jostling for space and making a loud racket. Tufted and horned puffins, common murres, pelagic cormorants and black-legged kittiwakes nest on the island too. Most people see the bay from the water, either from a large cruise liner or from a one-person kayak.
