Meares Glacier

Meares Glacier is huge, deep blue and calves on a regular basis, dropping big chunks of ice into the surrounding lagoon creating miniature versions of tsunami waves that roar along the shoreline. The surrounding lagoon is home to a host of seals and sea otters who enjoy the killer whale-free zone created by the floating ice.

The calm, cold waters reflecting the tall, snowy peaks and the frigid, blue ice of Meares Glacier.

The ice field through the trees as it inexorably pushes its way to the ocean.

A closer view of Meares Glacier reflecting off of the icy blue waters.

A huge iceberg fracturing off of the face of Meares Glacier .

This picture is seconds later as the huge chunk of ice falls into the sea, creating an explosion of water and ice that rushes across the surface of the lagoon.

Our very own mini-Tsunami caused the the calving of Meares Glacier.

Some of the non-native fauna in the form of the passengers and crew (Chris) of the Discovery.

Sara and Sam of the Discovery graciously taking our picture from ten different cameras.

The author (aka myself) in a more photogenic moment posing in front of Meares Glacier.

The most gracious and good natured ship mascot, Happy, the dog.

The seals were out in strength lazing around the ice. These didn't even budge as the boat went by, preferring to continue their nap although they did pause to take a look at us.

The harbor seals were really curious and periodically came really close to us to take a peak at the passengers of the Discovery from the safety of the water.

Well okay, there were a LOT of seals. In fact, this was the densest group of seals we saw during the entire trip (sea lions not included).

Some of them let you get close enough to see their luxurious fur and the white of their whiskers .

This one clearly shows that he's half wet. The back half of him is soggy from sleeping around on his private iceberg.

My first impulse was to assume that something had come by and eaten one of those cute little seals. However, we were told that the blood on the ice probably marks the birth of a new baby seal.

This mother seal is playing peek-a-boo over her ice barrier. You can see the tail of the baby seal on the bottom left of the chunk of upright ice.

A mother seal giving her pup a smile of encouragement.

Some Mallards doing a fly-by.

A large Alaskan Black Bear looking our way from shore .

The Alaskan Black Bear decided to show some tongue. He was hanging out on the shore of a small beach, eating the seaweed. He was still there when we left.

The same bear giving us an incriminating look. You can see the seaweed washed up on the beach that the bear was munching on.

This Alaskan Black Bear intended to show us exactly what he thought about us watching him on HIS beach.