Gustavus Sightseeing Tours and Activities

Glacier Bay National Park - with its high mountain peaks, ice-sculptured fjords, an abundance of marine wildlife and massive tidewater glaciers - is one of Alaska's most spectacular National Parks and best seen during your Glacier Bay Cruise. When Captain George Vancouver sailed through the ice-choked waters of Icy Strait in 1794, Glacier Bay was little more than a dent in a mountain of ice. In 1879 John Muir made his legendary discovery of Glacier Bay and found that the end of the bay had retreated 20 miles from Icy Strait. Today, glaciers still cover 27 percent of the Park. There are more than 50 named glaciers of which seven are active tidewater glaciers that calve icebergs into the sea. Two of them, Johns Hopkins and Margerie Glaciers, are advancing. Encircling the park to the west is the Fairweather Range, the highest coastal mountains in the world at 15,000 feet. Experience Glacier Bay from the comfort of the catamaran during a Glacier Bay Cruise. The bay is rich with marine life, including the endangered humpback whale, orcas, threatened Stellar sea lion, harbor seals, sea otters and porpoises. In addition Glacier Bay is home to a large bear population, both brown and black, as well as the blue glacier bear, a rare color phase of the black. Sitka blacktail deer and mountain goats thrive in the park. Popular activities are kayaking, glacier viewing and whale watching.