Tracy Arm

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Today we sailed to Tracy Arm Bay, a bit Northwest from Juneau. The weather was cold and rainy/misty, but not too terrible. The Alaskan scenery was amazing. Calm water and souring cliffs to either side of the channels. We passed by a few bachelor sea lion groups playing king-of-the-hill. Loud suckers! We also saw a few Stellar seals, several bald eagles and two mountain goats. Then we got the big treat. We sailed right into a pod of humpback whales. They were frisky! Several of them were breaching close to the boat, all of them were flipping their tails at us and blowing spray right next to us. Because we were on a smaller ship, the captain had no problem slowing down and circling the pod for over an hour. I honestly don’t believe I could ever take a cruise on a bigger ship again.

After we played with the whales we sailed on to Sawyer Glacier. Sawyer Glacier has actually two arms now. We went to the left-hand one (I know, just laugh at me). The color of the glacier was awesome. So was the cold wind coming from it. We got within ¼ mile of the glacier - any closer and we risked damage to the boat from the ice calving. There was one minor calving. I say minor, but I would guess it was quite a big chunk that came off. We stayed there until close to sundown.

I must take a moment to extol the virtues of the chefs on the boat. Wow. The food was terrific. Duck a l’orange, beef tenderloin, halibut steaks, shrimp bisque…those are just from one dinner menu. And the desserts were fantastic. The food was so rich I’m surprised I don’t have gout. And the bar had everything, including Pam’s Cassis. Great wines too. I don’t know where they put it all but they did an excellent job on all the consumables.

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Photos

Tracy Arm
Sea Lions!

Tracy Arm
Sailing through Tracy Arm

Breaching Humpback
There be whales here, cap'n!

Sawyer Glacier
This is the "right-hand" one

Sawyer Glacier
I think this is a neat shot of the glacier (left-hand) and the ship.

Sawyer Glacier
I couldn't get over the color of the water and the hunks of ice from the glacier.

Hunk o' ice
Me and an iceberg brought out of the bay around Sawyer Glacier.

Comments

[Lisa]

So amazing!
These pictures are beautiful! What an absolutely cool experience - especially with the whales. So glad you had a good time!

[Vince]

Awesome Sites
Yes, as you can see, I am just now getting to read your journal. I am so jealous because I did not get to see all of those wild animals that you did and I would have LOVED to gotten a picture like you took of the whale! Listening to the glaciers calving is one scary but awesome sound. Did they explain why there is such the color to the glaciers? I know I was told but I forget. It has something to do with the way the light is refracted, but I forget exactly. Awesome pictures!

[LoMein]

Finally...a response!
Hi honey, not trying to ignore comments. Just learning the system! Thanks for coming and seeing the site!