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Out of all the amazing places the Sikumi went over the past month, the one that stood out the most was the trip up Tracy Arm. With glacially carved rock walls that rise thousands of feet out of the 25 mile fiord, the Arm is one of the most stunning destinations in Southeast Alaska. The overwhelming scale of the fiord became immediately apparent as the Sikumi made its way into the Arm.
We first spotted what appeared to be an ant moving around on the shoreline, only to realize that it was a rather large Black bear getting a drink at the base of a waterfall. After we watched the bear for a while, we began to make our way past the house-sized icebergs that were floating calmly down the waterway. These giants had recently calved off of the North and South Sawyer glaciers that mark the end of the Arm. As we neared the glaciers we began to see dark shapes resting on the ice floe. We soon recognized that these were Harbor seals, and that many of them had given birth recently on the icebergs. When we looked closely we could see many tiny seals nuzzled up to their mothers on the ice. As we quietly passed by the resting seals we turned the corner and came upon the North Sawyer Glacier.
The power of this colossal river of ice was clear when looking up at the scarred rock walls around us. The glacial grooves in the rock showed how the glacier had pushed its way through the mountains over thousands of years. As we neared the point where the glacier met the sea, we could hear and see large, thundering chunks of ice calving off and falling into the water. After taking many photos of the phenomenal scenery around us, we decided to go fishing for some of the fresh iceberg chunks that had recently parted with the glacier. As the Captain Kurt steered us past some smaller icebergs, we stuck out the net and caught a few glistening blue chunks of ice. We later quenched our thirst with drinks on pure glacial ice cubes. After leaving the the glacier, it was time to put the kayaks in the water and to get up close and personal with the icebergs.
Once everyone was in the kayaks and ready to go, we set off through the ice floe. As we wound our way through the ice and across the fiord, we noticed many Arctic terns flying overhead, occasionally diving head-first into the water to catch a beak-full of food. The deep blue color of the icebergs drew many of us in to take photos as we paddled and floated by. As we neared the fiord wall, we heard the chirps of dozens of black and white Pigeon guillemots that were nesting on the steep cliffs around us. Finally, as we rounded the final turn of our paddling trip, we came upon an impossibly long, ribboned waterfall flowing down the face of fiord wall. Many of us ventured right up to the edge of the wall beneath the falls, to appreciate its grandeur.
After re-boarding the Sikumi, we were treated to yet another gourmet dinner by Chef Jenny. The day in Tracy Arm was the perfect combination of scenery, wildlife and fun, and was one that none of us will will ever forget.