Tracy Arm
If you took a poll of people who have traveled the length and breadth of Alaska, Tracy Arm would be on everyone’s Top 10 List of scenic localities. In fact it would be on the list of many people who have journeyed around the world! Although we saw no sunshine today, Tracy Arm was at its best with mist swirling around the valley walls and the glacial ice radiating a blue of almost unbelievable intensity. The front of the South Sawyer glacier was also giving it up to gravity at an almost unbelievable rate. As we approached the terminus, slab after slab of 30-story high ice thunderously calved into the water, generating huge surge waves that rocked our ship more than a mile away.
Not content with this incredible display, we launched our Zodiacs for a closer look. We carefully cruised through a jumble of bergs in colors ranging from pure white to prussian blue and aquamarine. Our naturalists explained that the bluest blues emanate from ice that has been under such high pressure that all of the gas bubbles have been squeezed out and that the green shades are from phytoplankton that had been frozen into the ice front. This was very interesting, but somehow our attention was more focused on the harbor seals hauled out on the icebergs or peering at us with their heads raised barely above the icy waters. We also saw mountain goats—a nanny and a kid, perched on a vertical rock cliff just above the glacier.
Coming back down the fjord we marveled at the walls of granite that rose vertically above us more than two thousand feet and the textbook examples of glacial landforms like cirques, horns, arêtes and hanging valleys. A highlight was Hole-in-the-Wall falls, where the ship approached so closely that the kids on board exuberantly filled cups from the cascading water.
At Williams Cove we kayaked and did one more hike on shore before returning to the lounge for the Captain’s farewell cocktail party and yet another opportunity for sumptuous dining. After dinner we watched videos of possible future destinations and chatted with the many friends we have made.
This voyage has been a process of discovery. Very few have seen the essential elements of Southeast Alaska that has been our privilege to view from the deck of the Sea Bird and during our hikes onshore: social foraging whales, brown bears, black bears, sea otters, mountain goats, killer whales, Stellar sea lions, harbor seals, porpoises, rain forests, and muskeg; plus fish, birds, and plants too numerous to mention. All of the “must see” flora and fauna have been observed. We can return home and tell our tales to friends and relatives, but we all know that you had to “be there” to fully comprehend and appreciate what we have experienced during this past week in one of the most glorious places on earth.
If you took a poll of people who have traveled the length and breadth of Alaska, Tracy Arm would be on everyone’s Top 10 List of scenic localities. In fact it would be on the list of many people who have journeyed around the world! Although we saw no sunshine today, Tracy Arm was at its best with mist swirling around the valley walls and the glacial ice radiating a blue of almost unbelievable intensity. The front of the South Sawyer glacier was also giving it up to gravity at an almost unbelievable rate. As we approached the terminus, slab after slab of 30-story high ice thunderously calved into the water, generating huge surge waves that rocked our ship more than a mile away.
Not content with this incredible display, we launched our Zodiacs for a closer look. We carefully cruised through a jumble of bergs in colors ranging from pure white to prussian blue and aquamarine. Our naturalists explained that the bluest blues emanate from ice that has been under such high pressure that all of the gas bubbles have been squeezed out and that the green shades are from phytoplankton that had been frozen into the ice front. This was very interesting, but somehow our attention was more focused on the harbor seals hauled out on the icebergs or peering at us with their heads raised barely above the icy waters. We also saw mountain goats—a nanny and a kid, perched on a vertical rock cliff just above the glacier.
Coming back down the fjord we marveled at the walls of granite that rose vertically above us more than two thousand feet and the textbook examples of glacial landforms like cirques, horns, arêtes and hanging valleys. A highlight was Hole-in-the-Wall falls, where the ship approached so closely that the kids on board exuberantly filled cups from the cascading water.
At Williams Cove we kayaked and did one more hike on shore before returning to the lounge for the Captain’s farewell cocktail party and yet another opportunity for sumptuous dining. After dinner we watched videos of possible future destinations and chatted with the many friends we have made.
This voyage has been a process of discovery. Very few have seen the essential elements of Southeast Alaska that has been our privilege to view from the deck of the Sea Bird and during our hikes onshore: social foraging whales, brown bears, black bears, sea otters, mountain goats, killer whales, Stellar sea lions, harbor seals, porpoises, rain forests, and muskeg; plus fish, birds, and plants too numerous to mention. All of the “must see” flora and fauna have been observed. We can return home and tell our tales to friends and relatives, but we all know that you had to “be there” to fully comprehend and appreciate what we have experienced during this past week in one of the most glorious places on earth.
