Endicott Arm & William’s Cove
Few ventured out onto icy decks of the early morning as the National Geographic Sea Bird entered the fjord known as Endicott Arm. A brilliant sun cast pale yellow-orange streaks across the surface of the flat jade-green water. It was promising to be another perfect day, with plenty of sunshine, an anomaly here in Southeast Alaska. The locals were calling it a heat wave and said they hadn’t seen anything like this in forty years. We loved it and planned to take full advantage of it.
The captain and his officers skillfully maneuvered our ship, picking a path through the icebergs and bergy bits, eventually ending near the face of Dawes Glacier. The luminous face of the terminus glowed with an aqua blue light as this high energy wave length passed through the ice to reach our eyes. Numerous burbling waterfalls tumbled down and across the jumble of glacial moraine left behind by its retreat. A scruffy nanny mountain goat and her kid hiked vertically up a steep valley while upturned faces watched with concern.
Eventually, we turned our ship, headed back out and into the fjord of Tracy Arm, tucking into William’s Cove. Guests adorned in an array of multi-colored boots climbed into kayaks or disappeared into the dry rainforest. We brushed away mosquitoes that buzzed by our ears lazily, while peering closely at dusty lichens and examining the nurse logs that nurtured the young spruce seedlings.
And, as our day drew to a close on the shore, a magnificent ice sculpture of a swan floated in, as if on cue, to remind us of how fragile and exquisite our life is on this planet.
Few ventured out onto icy decks of the early morning as the National Geographic Sea Bird entered the fjord known as Endicott Arm. A brilliant sun cast pale yellow-orange streaks across the surface of the flat jade-green water. It was promising to be another perfect day, with plenty of sunshine, an anomaly here in Southeast Alaska. The locals were calling it a heat wave and said they hadn’t seen anything like this in forty years. We loved it and planned to take full advantage of it.
The captain and his officers skillfully maneuvered our ship, picking a path through the icebergs and bergy bits, eventually ending near the face of Dawes Glacier. The luminous face of the terminus glowed with an aqua blue light as this high energy wave length passed through the ice to reach our eyes. Numerous burbling waterfalls tumbled down and across the jumble of glacial moraine left behind by its retreat. A scruffy nanny mountain goat and her kid hiked vertically up a steep valley while upturned faces watched with concern.
Eventually, we turned our ship, headed back out and into the fjord of Tracy Arm, tucking into William’s Cove. Guests adorned in an array of multi-colored boots climbed into kayaks or disappeared into the dry rainforest. We brushed away mosquitoes that buzzed by our ears lazily, while peering closely at dusty lichens and examining the nurse logs that nurtured the young spruce seedlings.
And, as our day drew to a close on the shore, a magnificent ice sculpture of a swan floated in, as if on cue, to remind us of how fragile and exquisite our life is on this planet.
