Join our 2012 Glacier Bay Alaska Explorer, a nature photography tour, and capture great images of whales, bears, eagles, otters, puffins, sea lions, glaciers, icebergs, peaks, and the glassy smooth waters of Glacier Bay reflecting forests, mountains and that magic color of floating ice.

Alaska is a big place.  The fjords of Southeast Alaska carve narrow channels among abrupt mountain ranges which often protect them from winds.  When all is calm, you can hear the sounds of eagles screaming for miles.  Spouting whales close to your boat create a tremendous sound – and great reflections.

Those same intertidal opportunities lure bald eagles to the shoreline, the intertidal, and the tops of trees along the edge of the water.

Glacier Bay National Park is home to the fastest documented glacier retreat on the planet.  It was almost entirely iced over at discovery in 1794 – and the glaciers had retreated 65 miles by 1916.  They are still retreating rapidly – providing us access to impressive tidewater calving glaciers!  We’ll watch as huge chunks of ice fall away from an impressive glacier wall into the bay’s waters. 

And we’ll make art of the shapes, colors and reflections of icebergs and “bergie bits” floating in the water.

One of our favorite photography opportunities amongst the fjords of Southeast Alaska is the way the clouds wind their way in and among the forested mountains near the water.  The old growth forests of Sitka spruce and Douglas fir are revealed in windows in the clouds, an ever changing image that creates mood and composition.

We’ll base from Bear Track Inn, the finest lodging with access to Glacier Bay National Park – a lodge where you may see bear or moose on the grounds – and a lodge that has always delivered us exquisite dining.

We have built in a full day of whale watching in the calm waters of Icy Straits.  Another day searching the intertidal zone for bears and eagles (and other wildlife and vistas).  A full day excursion deep into Glacier Bay National Park (we’ve always photographed bears and calving glaciers on this outing!).  A day of remote forest trekking (we’ll take a boat to a remote area to explore).  And a full day in the Beardsley Islands of Glacier Bay – you’ll be able to kayak as little or as much as you want and to make images from either your kayak or the support boat.