Day 14 – Tracy Arm Fjord and Sawyer Glacier

The good news is that we had a beautiful sunny day.  The bad news is that the sun comes up at 4:30 AM.  While we’re happy for the sunshine, it’s kinda rude at such an early hour, especially considering we’re night owls.  We were up early and ready for the approach to the glacier through the gorgeous fjord.

  

It’s a twisty route and we wondered how Captain Rob could maneuver this 915 foot long ship around these tight turns.  But the glacier has cut a deep swag through the mountains and he was able to easily make each turn.

The amount of floating ice increased…

And then suddenly, there it was!

There was no calving, which made it somewhat boring compared to all the action we had at the Hubbard Glacier.  Yet it’s still beautiful and an impressive sight.  The texture of the ice is interesting.

Now look back at the first picture.  In the lower center of the shot, see those black things that look like little rocks?  Those are actually sunbathing SEALS!!  I almost overlooked it until someone showed me a zoom of their picture.  I looked at mine, and sure enough, there they are.  Here’s a cropped, zoomed shot to prove it.

I also found one swimming near the ship…

The scenery going out was equally as beautiful as going in.

 On our way to Ketchikan we got into a nasty storm that had the ship pitching from a side wind.  That’s the sort of thing that gets to me.  High swells are okay, until the side wind factor comes in.  It was Bonine and a green apple for dinner, yum.  By bedtime the storm had passed and I felt better.

Stay tuned…