The National Geographic Sea Bird pulled away from the dock in Juneau last night, made her way south through Stephen’s Passage, and arrived early this morning in Holkham Bay, the entrance to Tracy-Endicott Arm – Ford’s Terror Wilderness Area. Brilliant sunshine, bright blue skies, and gorgeous snow-covered mountain peaks greeted early risers.
Humpback whale blows were easily seen pluming above flat calm seas. These magnificent creatures have recently migrated here for a summer of feeding in the nutrient-dense waters. A couple of breaths on the surface, a tail fluke dive down for several minutes of feeding, another surfacing for breaths, and so on. Although our morning announcement was planned for 7 a.m., the expedition leader’s voice came over the PA at 5:45, gently nudging those still in bed to come out and join in this wondrous welcome to Southeast Alaska.
Our day was devoted to exploring Endicott, the southern arm of this spectacular fjord system. We spent the morning cruising up the fjord, along steep stunning canyon-like walls carved by the receding Dawes glacier. The National Geographic Sea Bird wended her way through the milky green water filled with various sizes of ice—large icebergs, mid-sized bergie bits, and smaller growlers, so-named for the sound they make as the ship scrapes along their sides. By midday the face of Dawes glacier was in sight, and after lunch we climbed aboard the expedition landing craft to get a closer look at the magnificence displayed around us. Snow-covered mountains gave way to waterfalls, droplets flinging themselves down the steep cliff walls down to sea. As we neared the glacier face, a few bits of calving accompanied by the CRACK! sound of white thunder, though nothing to compare to the huge icebergs floating nearby. It’s hard to get a sense of scale here—everything is so large! The air is sweet and pure and rich here, and I found myself going into a meditative nourishing deep rhythmic breathing. To top things off, our hotel manager came around with a hot chocolate boat. Yum!
At this writing we are gathering in the lounge for cocktails and Recap, followed by dinner. Sunset is at 9:31 p.m. so who knows what we may find as we cross over the terminal moraine back into Holkham Bay after dinner.
