Tracy Arm Fjord

The next day, Wednesday, July 16, we began our second day in Juneau by boarding a boat and heading roughly south to the awesome Tracy Arm Fjord. The map to the right gives you an idea of where that boat took us. We went down the Stephens Passage to a point just near the bottom of the map where we took a left turn into Holkham Bay. From there, the boat did a right turn into the Tracy Arm Fjord. We had two alternatives. the glacier directly ahead is the South Sawyer Glacier which is our primary goal. Then we were told that if the icebergs were too numerous, we could always turn around and visit the less impressive Sawyer Glacier north of the fjord. 
You can assume from all my verbiage that we made it all the way to the ultimate goal. To the right is a detail of the end game in case you get lost in all my gab.

We met a true cruise ship on the way in.

Our little ship from the port

Ann. She claims to sleep 10 hours a day

Above, a GPS view of our journey

Approaching a very interesting iceberg

Going

  Iceberg
Crystallized Elegance
Circled Nearly Endlessly
Our First Glacier Ice
Exciting

Elaine above, and Jim; we think. Sue Walton below.

We have to let another proper cruise ship out or in, as the
 case may be.

View from the stern
Sharon -- certainly not asleep

David

On to different views.

Below, the captain's quarters on deck.

Captain wants to head for that waterfall below and left.

We've gone about as far as we can go!

We will now carry on into the fjord as far as we can go before our boat becomes ice-logged. We thought the captain was trying to get as close as he could to the impending glacier, which none of us could even see at this point before making a retreat
     These pictures are so spectacular, we are presenting them to you at a higher resolution. Excuse us if you still using  dial-up.

Glacier Adventure

  Glacier
Ice River
Displays Spectacular Front
Retreating for Many Years

Glorious

Tracy Arm Fjords

  Fjord
Tracy Arm
Increasing Ice Floes
Picking Way Slowly Forward

Glacier

Greetings from Jackie and Jim. 

Behind them is the end of the South Sawyer Glacier which was the goal of this adventure.  To see a panoramic view of this spectacular sight, click on 
Glacier.
On the way back, the captain announced that as he approached the iceberg we circled many many times, many frames above, the iceberg broke in half and literally turned over. He explained that when that happens, it brings to view ice that has been submerged for a very long time and for awhile, appears crystal blue.

And this ends our Tracy Arm Fjord adventure.The next day, July 17, we took a Ferry to Sitka. Hope you are not sick of seas!

  Coming

  Later
Return Trip
Split in Two
Now Two Emerald Jewels
Spectacular

 
It was very nice of the berg to present us with holes to peer through.