July 8, 2018 - Day 37: Juneau to Tracy Arm

47 miles covered in 7 hours of cruising
Highlights: Icebergs!  And we are heading South!  We are now halfway through our journey; 5 weeks in and 5 weeks left, and every mile we travel now will bring us a bit closer to home (with a few side-trips, of course).  Today we see our first (of many) icebergs.  In fact, we will see and learn a lot about icebergs over the next few days...

Bidding farewell to Juneau as we push south down the Gastineau Strait...

Not your typical "parking" spot for a full-size city bus!

 Heading away from Juneau while another cruise ship is coming in...

This smaller cruise ship is from the "Un-Cruise" line.  We once considered this approach to seeing Alaska, with the advantages over the big cruise lines being that the focus is on the wildlife, not the nightlife.  They access many of the smaller inlets that we have visited but the large ships cannot.  They typically have kayaks available for guests to explore the inlets, much as we have done among our Ranger Tug flotilla.  We have found the captains of these smaller cruise ships to be very friendly and communicative.  In fact, upon entering one anchorage earlier in the trip, the captain hailed us on the VHF radio just to let us know he would be leaving so we could consider his anchor spot as an option as we looked for places to drop anchor.  Very thoughtful and considerate, but not something to be expected from the large mega-ships...

On the other hand, the BIG cruise ships are... well, just really big.  Preposterously big.

And if the view from you helm looks something like this, be prepared for a tsunami-size wake.  In fact, the wake from this passing cruise ship heading into Juneau was the biggest wake, or wave, we have ever encountered in our 30+ years of boating (yes, including anything that Dixon Entrance or Cape Caution dished out at us earlier on this trip).  Anything that was not fastened down inside Seaquel hit the floor.  Unfortunately, this included my camera, and broke my most-used lens, the 70-250 zoom.  I was not a big fan of these super-sized cruise ships before, and our experience on this adventure has only served to reinforce this bias.  Whereas the smaller tour ships have been friendly and communicative, we have found the captains of the big cruise ships just the opposite.  Not only have they not responded to our hails, on a number of occasions they have blatantly disregarded traditional "rules of the road" by dangerously moving into our course even if we had right of way.  It has become something of a running joke among our flotilla, since an incident like this occurred near Sumdum Island heading up Endicott Arm.  We now affectionately refer to those cruise ship captains as "Sumdum Captain"...

A traditional sailboat just looks more natural on the water than a floating amusement park...

Some rough water -  but nothing compared to the wake of a cruise ship!


But an iceberg floating on the water, well that is quite a sight!  We encountered our very first iceberg heading down Stephens Passage, opposite Tracy Arm where we headed in for our anxiously-awaited visit to Sawyer Glaciers at its head.

Yes, that's an iceberg at two o'clock (just over Captain Mark's shoulder)…




Turning into Tracy Arm we began to see more and more icebergs.  From the first days of planning this adventure, I've always viewed the opportunity to boat among icebergs as one of the most fascinating aspects of this trip to the far north...

Even inside our anchorage bay, Tracy Arm Cove, there was one small berg and even a few smaller bergies washed up on the beach at low tide.  After dropping anchor, Glen heads out to explore it...

Glen: "Hey, there's an iceberg in  our cove!"

Moxie and Mark jump in the kayak to explore the lonesome iceberg just a few hundred feet away from where we anchored...

Glen admires the fascinating shapes and colors of this iceberg up close...

For Moxie, its just another excuse to go out exploring in the kayak!

Seaquel anchored adjacent an iceberg.  One of the priorities I imagined for this adventure was to boat, anchor, and paddle amid glaciers.  Check, check, and check!  But be careful what you wish for (stay tuned)…

Glen and Moxie checking out a "beached bergie"...

Our flotilla heads out with the dinghies to explore more and larger icebergs...

Glen gets a close look at the deep blue ice...

Mark and Peggy checking out "big blue"...

Ollie and Pam and blue ice...

Glen checks out some clear-ice bergies…

Moments later, after Ollie and Pam had just headed off to view another iceberg, Glen, Peggy, and Mark witness the big blue iceberg collapse and calve off smaller bergies…

Very fortunate to learn the lesson and not pay the price: this iceberg collapsed right where our dinghies passed by...

Note the numerous smaller bergies calved off from the larger one after collapse...

Amazing: this massive iceberg will be either gone (collapsed) or moved by the next morning...

The last of the remains of the sole iceberg in Tracy Arm Cove...

Mark's dream fulfilled: barefoot and stand-up paddling adjacent an iceberg.  How COOL is that?

Many of the icebergs are larger than houses or large yachts...

For Moxie, a Super-Size Ice Slushy to chew and lick...

As the sun sets behind the large icebergs, the blue hues are almost beyond description.  Every berg has a different shape and color, like snowflakes there seem to be no two alike.  Fascinating!

I called this particular sculpture the "Shower Stall".  It was perfectly rounded, and in the summer heat the amount of melt from the scale of this sculpture was like a shower had been turned on...


Snow-capped mountains in the background, with icebergs in the foreground.  Alaska, or Antarctica?

Glen and Mark are sitting in our respective kayak/dinghy, mesmerized by the size and beauty of this particular iceberg.  We cannot get over how blessed we are to be experiencing all that Alaska has to offer, and now these spectacular icebergs.  Suddenly, an eagle lands atop the highest pinnacle of this berg just above us to make it even better!  Can this be real?

Drip, drip, drip...the near heat-wave we have experienced this past week is taking a toll on the bergs!

Entering Tracy Arm, I had hoped to see icebergs.  Still, I had no idea of their captivating beauty.  Nor did I realize just how much our icebergs would come to dominate a few of the next days of our adventure.  Tomorrow we head up to see the Sawyer Glaciers that are the source of these icebergs, calving off big chunks with ever-increasing frequency due to the unusual warm spell...

~Mark