Tracy Arm and Williams Cove
The morning sunshine found the Sea Lion headed toward a place that no Lindblad National Geographic Expedition had visited for two years, because there was no way to get there! Since the summer of 2004, the South Sawyer Glacier has retreated more than two miles, launching an armada of floating ice that has made the narrow passageway into the ice front impassable by ships. Today was different—there was still abundant ice, but the Sea Lion found a series of open channels that took us to within a half mile of the glacier front. On the way we were treated to an exceptional view of a herd of at least 14 mountain goats at such a low elevation that the nannys and kids were clearly visible even without binoculars. This was good, but our destination was incredible. All around was raw evidence of recent deglaciation. Big remnants of jet-black stagnant ice were clinging to the slopes and raining down boulders as they were released by melting. Rocks scraped bare by glacial erosion defined a trim line, revealing that just 1-2 years ago ice filled the fjord all the way from where our ship was sailing up to a depth of hundreds of feet above us. The ice front had diminished to about 30% of its 2004 width. Sadly, the sloping geometry of the ice front indicated that the South Sawyer might no longer be a tidewater glacier by the end of the 2006 melting season.
After an exhilarating Zodiac ride through the blue ice in front of the South Sawyer we headed back down Tracy Arm towards our afternoon hiking and kayaking destination at Williams Cove. We made a brief stop at Hole-in-the-Wall Falls, where our captain gave us a masterful display of seamanship by maneuvering the bow of the Sea Lion to within a few feet of the torrent cascading from the granite walls above. At Williams Cove, we did scenic tours by land and by sea kayak, observing abundant seabirds and learning some of the lore of the magnificent rain forest of Southeast Alaska. Overall, a day that we will remember long after this voyage is through.
The morning sunshine found the Sea Lion headed toward a place that no Lindblad National Geographic Expedition had visited for two years, because there was no way to get there! Since the summer of 2004, the South Sawyer Glacier has retreated more than two miles, launching an armada of floating ice that has made the narrow passageway into the ice front impassable by ships. Today was different—there was still abundant ice, but the Sea Lion found a series of open channels that took us to within a half mile of the glacier front. On the way we were treated to an exceptional view of a herd of at least 14 mountain goats at such a low elevation that the nannys and kids were clearly visible even without binoculars. This was good, but our destination was incredible. All around was raw evidence of recent deglaciation. Big remnants of jet-black stagnant ice were clinging to the slopes and raining down boulders as they were released by melting. Rocks scraped bare by glacial erosion defined a trim line, revealing that just 1-2 years ago ice filled the fjord all the way from where our ship was sailing up to a depth of hundreds of feet above us. The ice front had diminished to about 30% of its 2004 width. Sadly, the sloping geometry of the ice front indicated that the South Sawyer might no longer be a tidewater glacier by the end of the 2006 melting season.
After an exhilarating Zodiac ride through the blue ice in front of the South Sawyer we headed back down Tracy Arm towards our afternoon hiking and kayaking destination at Williams Cove. We made a brief stop at Hole-in-the-Wall Falls, where our captain gave us a masterful display of seamanship by maneuvering the bow of the Sea Lion to within a few feet of the torrent cascading from the granite walls above. At Williams Cove, we did scenic tours by land and by sea kayak, observing abundant seabirds and learning some of the lore of the magnificent rain forest of Southeast Alaska. Overall, a day that we will remember long after this voyage is through.
