Tracy Arm Fjord and Williams Cove

At the base of an amazingly steep fjord wall, overstuffed sausages of harbor seals perched on a temporary ledge. A flooding tide was working on submerging their morning refuge, but it would be available real estate for a snooze a bit later, in about six hours. Researchers counted 1,200 seals here a day or so ago; this is a prime area for birthing. South Sawyer Glacier calves off a steady supply of icebergs, the favored refuge for a harbor seal to haul out on and give birth upon. The peak of birthing is over now, and we are approaching the time for weaning. This could account for the vocalizations—hoarse croaking bellows—heard as we explored the fjord by Zodiac.

As we navigated amongst the bergs, an occasional harbor seal would pop its head out of the water. They always seem to wear a look of perpetual amazement; perhaps the beauty of the fjord overwhelms them on an hourly basis.

Teasing chips, encouraging ice balls and thrilling icebergs leapt, fell, calved and splashed into the salty silt-laden waters. We cheered at the demise of this sculptured beauty, and rode the resulting undulating waves generated by the triumph of gravity over ice.

Low-slung clouds and morphing mist shrouded the shreds of shrubbery clinging to the cliff sides. In this area of recent glacial retreat, a forest is incubating. Sprinkled with spores flown in on the wind, this naked rock will be colonized by lichens and mosses soon, and in many decades a luxuriant forest of spruce and hemlock will eventually emerge.

The highlight of the day was a young seal hauled out on the ice that had the distinctive banded and swirled pattern of a ribbon seal. Definitely an out-of-place animal, as ribbon seals inhabit territory much further north of here, along the Aleutian Islands.

The power of a wild, untrammeled landscape brought inspiration to one of our younger travelers, and she shares her reflections with us in a Haiku.

Harbor Seals by Jessica Salwen, age 11
Icebergs float slowly
Shy seals frolic among us
Glacial ice calving.