Tracy Arm, Southeast Alaska
We greeted our first expedition day at the face of the Sawyer Glacier. To our good fortune we were able to approach the face and get a close view of the magnificent shades of blue created through the elimination of the majority of air bubbles of the ice by the monstrous weight of the overlying ice. It is difficult to express the beauty of the glacier, its magnificence and its dynamic strength. Layers of seracs seem to cascade over one another as this river of ice makes its way to the saltwater boundary. The previously etched steep granite walls echo the grandeur of the scene.
With coffee, tea, or hot cocoa in hand, we all witnessed the sights and sounds of glacial calving. The roaring thunder echoed off the fjord’s cliffs as the wake produced by falling masses of ice radiated towards us. After this extraordinary display we enjoyed our breakfast just in time to add layers of clothes and board our Zodiacs to explore the ice-laden fjord in the seemingly rare sunshine of Southeast Alaska. As we passed smaller bits of recently calved ice we were able to get some views of harbor seals and their pups. The seals take advantage of the ice to haul out and give birth, nurse, and bond with their young offspring.
On our way out of the arm, we enjoyed Hole-in-the-Wall Waterfall, a roaring torrent of snowmelt water cascading down the walls of the cliff, and then attended to an important matter: safety drills. By the time we had finished, we were at Williams Cove and lowered our Zodiacs again, to be taken to land and the waiting kayaks. Our time on these delightful craft was great. Others of us undertook different hikes, into the temperate rainforest, where we learned about the different majestic trees, such as the Sitka spruce and the Western hemlock. Numerous flowering plants, such as the false-lilies-of-the-valley and the chocolate lilies showed off their colors, and the salmonberries their still-green fruit. We followed old bear trails in the forest and at the beaches, and in the late afternoon we all returned to our vessel to prepare for cocktail hour and “recap”, followed by a luscious dinner.
We greeted our first expedition day at the face of the Sawyer Glacier. To our good fortune we were able to approach the face and get a close view of the magnificent shades of blue created through the elimination of the majority of air bubbles of the ice by the monstrous weight of the overlying ice. It is difficult to express the beauty of the glacier, its magnificence and its dynamic strength. Layers of seracs seem to cascade over one another as this river of ice makes its way to the saltwater boundary. The previously etched steep granite walls echo the grandeur of the scene.
With coffee, tea, or hot cocoa in hand, we all witnessed the sights and sounds of glacial calving. The roaring thunder echoed off the fjord’s cliffs as the wake produced by falling masses of ice radiated towards us. After this extraordinary display we enjoyed our breakfast just in time to add layers of clothes and board our Zodiacs to explore the ice-laden fjord in the seemingly rare sunshine of Southeast Alaska. As we passed smaller bits of recently calved ice we were able to get some views of harbor seals and their pups. The seals take advantage of the ice to haul out and give birth, nurse, and bond with their young offspring.
On our way out of the arm, we enjoyed Hole-in-the-Wall Waterfall, a roaring torrent of snowmelt water cascading down the walls of the cliff, and then attended to an important matter: safety drills. By the time we had finished, we were at Williams Cove and lowered our Zodiacs again, to be taken to land and the waiting kayaks. Our time on these delightful craft was great. Others of us undertook different hikes, into the temperate rainforest, where we learned about the different majestic trees, such as the Sitka spruce and the Western hemlock. Numerous flowering plants, such as the false-lilies-of-the-valley and the chocolate lilies showed off their colors, and the salmonberries their still-green fruit. We followed old bear trails in the forest and at the beaches, and in the late afternoon we all returned to our vessel to prepare for cocktail hour and “recap”, followed by a luscious dinner.
