Tracy Arm and Juneau: Icebergs, the Fiord, Glaciers and a Whale

(July 3) – We woke early again this morning and went up to the walking track to find ourselves surrounded by fog and occasional mist. As we walked, the Navigator moved through the water and a couple of folks spotted and photographed humpback whales. We weren’t carrying either cameras or binoculars, but needed neither to see a spectacular glacier appearing to tumble down a mountainside. Its beautiful aquamarine ice shone in the morning light with its own glow, no sunshine needed to capture its light.

When we finished our walk, Mike went down to get camera and binoculars so that we could see what appeared to be icebergs ahead of us. They were, indeed, smallish bergs, some just white ice and others filled with the blaze of blue that glacier water reflects because of the ground rock flours within.

As we continued into a beautiful fiord, called Tracy Arm, more bergs floated around us. High rock faces rose all around and waterfalls tumbled down, some racing as thin ribbon-like streams, other bursting from the bottoms of the slopes in a froth. We ate breakfast when the dining room opened, keeping binoculars on the table for quick looks at the glorious sights we were passing.

After breakfast, we found ourselves dashing about the boat and in and out of our cabin to the balcony, grabbing our cameras or the binoculars to savor and maybe capture the magic of this experience. It seemed that each minute there was some new sight, something we wanted to see or photograph.  The water in Tracy Arm is a beautiful mossy green color, its hue again influenced by the glacial runoff. Everything we were seeing merited the word “spectacular” and our “ohs” and “wows” were continuous.

On many of the rocky faces, no matter how sheerly vertical the slope, fir trees grow, coming up out of the rock without any apparent soil in which they might root. In some places, the shrubs clinging to the rock faces have clusters of yellow flowers.

Our anthropologist tells us that we’re unlikely to see the humpback whales up in the fiord because they are baleens, gulping up 500 gallons of water and filtering it to capture the small fish and phyloplankton. They don’t like the glacial silt, so this is not good hunting ground for them.

She did suggest that we might see a fin whale or, in areas where there are small icebergs, called growlers, that are like flat rafts, seals with pups are sometimes seen. The seals keep their pups on these rafts for a few months until they are weaned. These seal “nurseries” draw orcas, the toothed killer whales, who feed on the seals if they can get to them.

At one point as I was working on the blog, the ship began to tilt rather dramatically back and forth. It was enough of a shift that outside our cabin I could hear things falling and clanking and I had to brace myself to stay steady. The captain came on the in-house TV to apologize for the “little lean.” He said that he had to take evasive action to avoid an iceberg. I approve--better to lean than damage the ship. I wouldn’t want to go into this cold water!  We learned later that dishes had been broken all over the ship, sliding off surfaces when the ship tilted without warning.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.

After an exciting morning we expected an equally exciting afternoon, but were disappointed that the rainy weather kept us from going on the “flightseeing” helicopter to the Mendenhall Glacier as we had planned. Instead we walked into Juneau from the pier and went to the Red Dog Saloon to celebrate our friend Judy Spell’s birthday. We were there for an hour or so, then back to the ship to relax before our next excursion in late afternoon.

The “Capture Juneau” excursion was billed as a photo tour to include a whale watching expedition. It was everything promised and more. Our guide, Stacy, was really knowledgeable and personable, gave us great photography tips and even spent some time with each of us with our own cameras, teaching us how to get better results. It was very helpful.

We went out to the Mendenhall Glacier, took about a two-mile walk through the rainforest (in the rain, appropriately) and learned a lot about glaciers, rainforest flora and fauna, as well as how salmon impact the ecosystems here. It was a great experience, despite the rain. Since ponchos were provided, we really didn’t even get that wet.

We then took a bus to get on a boat for our whale-watching tour. We saw some stellar sea lions first, lying in a heap on a rocky shore. Stacy, not just a skilled photographer, but also a naturalist, referred to their behavior as a “haul out.” That pile of pinkish blubbery creatures looked more like a “fall out.”

Then we began our search for whales. It took quite a while, but finally a nearby boat radioed the position of one they had spotted and we raced over to see it. The humpback we saw and photographed was “lunge feeding,” diving fairly shallowly in an area that must have been full of fish. The whale put on quite a show for us for about half an hour and we got lots of photos, some of which were pretty impressive views of its flukes waving high out of the water as it dove. It was really a thrill.

We returned late this evening, tired and soggy, but happy. The ship’s crew had held open the dining room because so many of us were returning late, so we had a nice supper before bed. I’m about to turn in because we arrive in Skagway at 7 tomorrow morning and our tour there begins at 7:50AM. We’re keeping busy, to say the least.  Goodnight from our 50th state and, as it is now officially July 4th here, Happy Birthday, America!
[Photos by Mike Lumpkin]