This post is dedicated to the late Dr. Vera Alexander, marine scientist, equestrian, musician, philanthropist and much more. It was WC’s privilege to serve as a marine technician on the R/V Acona in 1967 on a cruise where Dr. Alexander, a newly minted PhD, did some of the original research on the relationship between Harbor Seals and tidewater glaciers. Vera Alexander taught WC about the importance of curiosity in life and science, a lesson WC still cherishes today.

If you’ve been on a ship in a glacial fjord, up near the snout of a tidewater glacier, you know that they seem to be as sterile as the moon. It’s not just the freezing cold air flowing down the glacier, or the barren rock walls framing the seawater. There’s no sign of life in the water, either.

Except for the…