Williams Cove & Tracy Arm
Our last full day in Southeast Alaska began with a morning of hiking and kayaking at Williams Cove. Soon after breakfast (a tasty buffet of blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, muffins, fresh fruits and assorted yogurts and cereals), four Zodiacs piloted by officers and naturalists landed on the beach. Guests disembarked and climbed up the rocky shoreline to enter the verdant coastal rainforest. Hikers discovered a masterpiece of nature in the forest: red squirrel homes, or middens, mounds crafted out of small pinecones, leaves, and other forest floor debris. They also found juicy red and purple berries, wild mushrooms, and signs of bears. As hikers walked among the Western hemlock and Sitka spruce trees, 18 colorful Sea Lion kayaks floated in the cove. Kayakers traveled across the cove to view a cascading waterfall and to get a closer look at the Sea Lion, anchored patiently under the morning’s shining sun.
We picked up two wilderness rangers from the U.S. Forest Service while we were anchored at Williams Cove. These rangers accompanied us on our 25-mile journey to the end of Tracy Arm fjord. We learned about their work in the Tongass National Forest, a 17-million acre area of land protected by Congress from any future development. Part of their work in the Tracy Arm Fords Terror Wilderness Area (one of 19 wilderness areas within the Tongass National Forest) involves counting harbor seals in Tracy Arm. Up to 1,200 harbor seals have been counted hauled out on floating bits of ice in front of Sawyer and South Sawyer glaciers this season.
At lunchtime, the Sea Lion pulled up the anchor and made a stop at Hole in the Wall waterfall, one of hundreds of waterfalls cascading down the steep rock walls of Tracy Arm fjord. After everyone viewed this torrent (and learned a visual trick that makes rocks stretch before our very eyes), the Sea Lion continued to wind her way carefully through bits of blue and white floating ice to South Sawyer glacier. We ventured out for Zodiac ice tours at the glacier’s face and saw harbor seals in one of two places: hauled out on the ice or swimming in the sea. A few seals defied the shy nature of their species and swam close to our boats. A myriad of fish in these waters feed the seals and make this wilderness environment an ideal location for female seals to birth and nurture their pups every year. As we watched and listened to the tidewater glacier calve into the sea, we were reminded by our naturalists that calving stirs plankters up to the water’s surface which in turn feed the sea birds fishing from above.
Before commencing the Captain’s farewell dinner (and a scrumptious Chocolate Decadence dessert), everyone gathered in the forward lounge for evening recap. An auction to benefit the Alaska Whale Foundation ensued and bids were placed on artwork and photography from our week of exploring Alaska’s coastal wilderness. Animal tracks in plaster, drawings by the youth onboard, and photography by Ralph will be packed in suitcases and carried home to remind us all of Alaska, and the many gifts this land and these waters offered to us along our journey.
Our last full day in Southeast Alaska began with a morning of hiking and kayaking at Williams Cove. Soon after breakfast (a tasty buffet of blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, muffins, fresh fruits and assorted yogurts and cereals), four Zodiacs piloted by officers and naturalists landed on the beach. Guests disembarked and climbed up the rocky shoreline to enter the verdant coastal rainforest. Hikers discovered a masterpiece of nature in the forest: red squirrel homes, or middens, mounds crafted out of small pinecones, leaves, and other forest floor debris. They also found juicy red and purple berries, wild mushrooms, and signs of bears. As hikers walked among the Western hemlock and Sitka spruce trees, 18 colorful Sea Lion kayaks floated in the cove. Kayakers traveled across the cove to view a cascading waterfall and to get a closer look at the Sea Lion, anchored patiently under the morning’s shining sun.
We picked up two wilderness rangers from the U.S. Forest Service while we were anchored at Williams Cove. These rangers accompanied us on our 25-mile journey to the end of Tracy Arm fjord. We learned about their work in the Tongass National Forest, a 17-million acre area of land protected by Congress from any future development. Part of their work in the Tracy Arm Fords Terror Wilderness Area (one of 19 wilderness areas within the Tongass National Forest) involves counting harbor seals in Tracy Arm. Up to 1,200 harbor seals have been counted hauled out on floating bits of ice in front of Sawyer and South Sawyer glaciers this season.
At lunchtime, the Sea Lion pulled up the anchor and made a stop at Hole in the Wall waterfall, one of hundreds of waterfalls cascading down the steep rock walls of Tracy Arm fjord. After everyone viewed this torrent (and learned a visual trick that makes rocks stretch before our very eyes), the Sea Lion continued to wind her way carefully through bits of blue and white floating ice to South Sawyer glacier. We ventured out for Zodiac ice tours at the glacier’s face and saw harbor seals in one of two places: hauled out on the ice or swimming in the sea. A few seals defied the shy nature of their species and swam close to our boats. A myriad of fish in these waters feed the seals and make this wilderness environment an ideal location for female seals to birth and nurture their pups every year. As we watched and listened to the tidewater glacier calve into the sea, we were reminded by our naturalists that calving stirs plankters up to the water’s surface which in turn feed the sea birds fishing from above.
Before commencing the Captain’s farewell dinner (and a scrumptious Chocolate Decadence dessert), everyone gathered in the forward lounge for evening recap. An auction to benefit the Alaska Whale Foundation ensued and bids were placed on artwork and photography from our week of exploring Alaska’s coastal wilderness. Animal tracks in plaster, drawings by the youth onboard, and photography by Ralph will be packed in suitcases and carried home to remind us all of Alaska, and the many gifts this land and these waters offered to us along our journey.
