Alaska: Tracy Arm Fjord

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Today we arranged to go to Tracy Arm with Adventure Bound Alaska aboard the 65’ Captain Cook for a glacier and fjord cruise. The mountains and sheer rock walls reach up over a mile high with waterfalls.  The boat has a walk-around deck and large heated cabin windows.

Tracy Arm is 45 miles south of Juneau.

Iceberg. 

Black bear on the shoreline!

Entering Tracy Arm Fjord. 

Waterfall. 

Snow-capped mountains. 

Icebergs. 

Bird, a Pigeon Guillemot I think. 

Another waterfall. 

Icebergs dead ahead! 

Waves crashing into iceberg. 

Blue iceberg.

Another waterfall. 

Approaching the twin Sawyer Glaciers which we will view from 2 locations: North Sawyer and South Sawyer. This is North Sawyer. 

Amazingly blue iceberg. The blue color is usually found in areas where the most air (crevices and holes).The crevasses and holes are deep blue sometimes caused by refreezing of melted water.  The young/new icebergs are usually blue, freshly exposed to the air.

North Sawyer Glacier. 

More blue icebergs.

Harbor seals. The reason for so many here is the ice in Tracy Arm interferes with the whale’s sonar, making it the perfect place to have seal pups in the summer time. 

 

That’s a lot of old ice. 

Jackie at the glacier. 

I can’t get over this blue! 

Us with North Sawyer Glacier at the end of Tracy Arm Fjord. 

The captain turns off the engines and generators at the glacier so you can listen to the ice crackle and pop. We waited quite awhile hoping for it to calve. Part of me feels guilty hoping for global warming to take away more of the large ice formation, but it would be so cool to see a large piece break off. The water at the end of the fjord is nearly 600 feet deep which helps keep the large underwater calving ice remains intact creating Alaska’s largest icebergs. The icebergs can rise from the bottom of the glacier at 250 feet surfacing fast like large submarines. It can be really dangerous too close to the glacier edge. Waiting, waiting… 

The best we saw were small tumbles on the corner side of the glacier. That little piece made a massive loud noise in the tunnel-like fjord.

Massive size of the North Sawyer Glacier. 

Joe enjoyed riding in the captain’s room talking shop about engines with the captain. 

Next up South Sawyer Glacier. 

Jackie and the South Sawyer Glacier.

It was cold at the glacier as you can imagine the cold breeze coming off the ice.

Thankfully they had fare prices for on board for food (we brought our own options), but the $1 hot chocolate or coffee was clutch.

On our way back we stopped at another waterfall.

Another black bear was spotted on the shoreline.

We were able to catch a few good shots of him before he disappeared into the bushes waiting for our boat to leave.

All in all it was a great day: boat ride, 2 black bears, glaciers, many icebergs, and amazing blue ice. It may have rained for the beginning of the ride but we’ve heard that cloudy weather actually makes the bright blue ice stand out more.

Alexis caught some jumbo shrimp and 3 halibut while out fishing today. 

Her mom Beth had picked up some Alaskan king crab from the docks the day before. Salad, rolls and mashed potatoes rounded out the amazing meal stuffed full of fresh Alaskan seafood Alexis made for us. Can’t beat that!