Sunday, 6 October 2013. My, oh my, how time flies! I can see I've been remiss since my last post. We are currently staying just outside Memphis, Tennessee -- and so much has happened since the Ketchikan blog post. Will do my best to catch up -- and still make it interesting.
Our cruise ship, the Golden Princess, crossed Tracy Arm Bar right on time at 0600 on the morning of 10 July -- that's 6am for anyone not familiar with military or shipboard 24-hr clock time. For about the next 3+ hours we would be treated to some almost other-worldly scenery and landscape of the
Tracy Arm Fjord. Lynette actually woke me up about 0630, all excited at seeing "iceberg" all around the ship. I immediately jumped out of bed (well, I actually stumbled out, still groggy with sleep), put on some clothes, including a jacket since it was quite cool outside on our balcony, grabbed my camera, and proceeded to take dozens and dozens of photos over the next couple hours. Lynette order some room service breakfast and we enjoyed our morning coffee on the balcony.
Named after Civil War general and later Secretary of the
Navy Benjamin Franklin Tracy, this narrow, absolutely breathtaking fjord is
located about 45-50 miles SE of Juneau.
Tracy Arm extends over 30 miles long, with nearly a quarter of its area
covered in ice. In fact, it encompasses some of Alaska's largest glaciers,
including the twin Sawyer glaciers that often expel enormous chunks of ice into
the fjord’s waters in a magnificent process known as calving (more on this later).
I can only hope to give our blog readers a small inkling of the magnificent, awe-inspiring scenery offered by the Tracy Arm Fjord. The many blue-tinged glacier-fed icebergs and ice floes -- along with the dozens of crystalline waterfalls of the fjord -- were simply awesome. Our cruise ship seemed like a giant intruder, slowly gliding further up the almost serenely quiet fjord. I sincerely hope you enjoy the following pics -- and I hope they leave you with some sense of the awe and wonder we felt in this magical landscape.
Entering Tracy Arm Fjord -- appears its going to be one great morning!
The next several pics offer a close up of the small icebergs / floes we spotted as we gently cruised up the fjord toward the glacier during this magical morning.
Notice the whispery clouds among the trees on either side of this narrow fjord -- we had them all morning with us as we cruised Tracy Arm. Just added to that overall "magical" feeling of this place.
Early morning in Tracy Arm Fjord -- caught Glenna all bundled up on their balcony, just a couple rooms down the corridor from our room. Not sure if I caught her by surprise or what!
Glenna joined by Glenn to enjoy what the absolutely beautiful Tracy Arm Fjord had to offer.
Looking off the starboard side of the ship up the steep slope of the fjord. Lots of snow still around in July that fed the many waterfalls we saw on our cruise up the fjord.
One of the many "un-named" waterfalls that came cascading down both sides of the fjord. In almost any other place, this waterfall would have a name; but these tumbling snow-fed beauties were so numerous that few, if any, had ever been named. The roar of the falls as it finally reached the waters of the fjord was about the only sound we heard -- other than birds flying overhead -- during our fjord cruise.
Another of the too numerous to remember waterfalls streaming its way down the mountainside.
Here's a couple snaps, again taken from our starboard balcony (as most of the pics in this blog entry are) showing the more and more numerous icebergs / floes as we continued to cruise up the fjord.
A shot from our balcony looking almost straight up the bow as our cruise ship looks to make a turn.
A close-up of another ice floe. Interesting jagged looking berg instead of the usual smooth appearance.
Getting further up the fjord -- and seeing more and more bergs / floes.
The ship's captain had already told us we wouldn't be able to cruise all the way to the glacier because the ever-increasing icebergs / floes were becoming too dangerous for the large cruise ship. One excursion offered was to take a smaller boat (coming up behind our cruise ship) with more maneuverability all the way to the glacier. Some folks did, and would rejoin our ship in Juneau. We chatted to a couple ladies who did take this smaller boat to the glacier and they were ecstatic about the active calving at the glacier.
I thought this was a great photo of a small stream flowing out of a canyon on the mountainside. The low-hanging clouds just added to the overall stunning view.
This is the point where the captain decided to terminate our cruising up the fjord and turn around and head out the fjord and Juneau. As you can see, the bergs / floes have gotten quite numerous.
A view of the fjord on our way out. Fell in love with all this magical scenery!
Just had to take this shot of the seagulls flitting around on this fairly large iceberg in the fjord.
The Golden Princess finally emerged from the Tracy Arm Fjord about a quarter after 9am and set sail for Juneau by passing through the Lynn Canal. We began seeing numerous fishing boats (most of them out of Juneau) as we exited the fjord.
A couple more fishing boats with some a stunning mountain range in the background -- on our way to Juneau. Itinerary says we should be dockside in about three hours, and that we were. Next up: a tour of Mendenhall Glacier and a whale-watching trip out of Auke Bay, near Juneau. Should be fun!
