Gambier Bay and Tracy Arm
Brilliant sunlight danced on the placid water that mirrored the forested slopes of Admiralty Island, a stunning backdrop for a morning of exploration by kayak and Zodiac. A couple of fishing boats lay at anchor in the distance. One was stacked high with Dungeness crab pots, perhaps to supplement those already marked by floats scattered throughout the shallows of Gambier Bay. Our own little boats left directly from the ship to trace the shores of rocky islets studded with spruce and hemlock trees. Wings of hundreds of surfbirds and turnstones flashed in the sun as they descended for a rest from their journey from the northern breeding grounds. Heads of curious harbor seals bobbed nearby, and a number of bald eagles studied us from their perches.
By midday, the ship’s anchor was up and in a few hours we reached Tracy Arm, the steep-walled fiord where we planned to cruise in the late afternoon. Vertical cliffs of granite rise thousands of feet up from teal-green water laden with glacial silt. To everyone’s delight, the Captain nosed the ship in for a very close look at Hole-in-the-Wall Waterfall. Wet clothes and exhuberant screams were evidence of a successful visit. Sharp-eyed observers picked out mountain goats on the high tundra at the skyline. To our surprise, a killer whale made a brief appearance. Chunks of ice called growlers and bergie bits gently “kuh-thunked’ against the hull as the ship carefully picked its way through massive icebergs at the head of the fiord. This sinuous channel winds 32 miles back to Sawyer and South Sawyer Glaciers, tongues of blue ice connecting the Stikine Icefield with the sea. At one time these were branches of a larger glacier that stretched all the way to the entrance of the bay. By now we had all become experienced glacier-watchers, but these two rivers of ice and the path left by their combined passage had special appeal. This area has been set aside as Tracy Arm – Ford’s Terror Wilderness because of its magnificent scenery. We lingered to soak in the beauty, then headed back towards Stephen’s Passage, our route to Juneau.
Brilliant sunlight danced on the placid water that mirrored the forested slopes of Admiralty Island, a stunning backdrop for a morning of exploration by kayak and Zodiac. A couple of fishing boats lay at anchor in the distance. One was stacked high with Dungeness crab pots, perhaps to supplement those already marked by floats scattered throughout the shallows of Gambier Bay. Our own little boats left directly from the ship to trace the shores of rocky islets studded with spruce and hemlock trees. Wings of hundreds of surfbirds and turnstones flashed in the sun as they descended for a rest from their journey from the northern breeding grounds. Heads of curious harbor seals bobbed nearby, and a number of bald eagles studied us from their perches.
By midday, the ship’s anchor was up and in a few hours we reached Tracy Arm, the steep-walled fiord where we planned to cruise in the late afternoon. Vertical cliffs of granite rise thousands of feet up from teal-green water laden with glacial silt. To everyone’s delight, the Captain nosed the ship in for a very close look at Hole-in-the-Wall Waterfall. Wet clothes and exhuberant screams were evidence of a successful visit. Sharp-eyed observers picked out mountain goats on the high tundra at the skyline. To our surprise, a killer whale made a brief appearance. Chunks of ice called growlers and bergie bits gently “kuh-thunked’ against the hull as the ship carefully picked its way through massive icebergs at the head of the fiord. This sinuous channel winds 32 miles back to Sawyer and South Sawyer Glaciers, tongues of blue ice connecting the Stikine Icefield with the sea. At one time these were branches of a larger glacier that stretched all the way to the entrance of the bay. By now we had all become experienced glacier-watchers, but these two rivers of ice and the path left by their combined passage had special appeal. This area has been set aside as Tracy Arm – Ford’s Terror Wilderness because of its magnificent scenery. We lingered to soak in the beauty, then headed back towards Stephen’s Passage, our route to Juneau.
