Tracy Arm
This morning there were pockets of blue sky visible between white, light clouds, all framed between vertical cliffs of tremendous height. Here we were, our first morning on board the National Geographic Sea Bird, feeling small as we sailed up the flat waters of this narrow fiord. Not too far south of Juneau is located one of the most spectacular wilderness areas in Southeast Alaska: Tracy Arm-Ford’s Terror Wilderness Area. By the time folks were waking up, getting their coffee and preparing for the day, there were icebergs drifting by the windows. At the head of Tracy Arm are two tidewater glaciers, Sawyer and South Sawyer glaciers. The ice we were seeing had dropped off their glacier faces, perhaps only hours before.
After breakfast the Zodiacs were lowered and for a few hours we got to explore, slalom between bergy bits, growlers and icebergs, watch harbor seals, pick out patterns in the ice and rock, and listen to the white thunder of falling ice off the face of South Sawyer Glacier. Our undersea specialist, Carlos Navarro, spotted a different color on a low piece of ice, and when we approached, we realized it was a dead fish; complete, uneaten, fresh…but definitely dead. Identified as a yellow-eyed rockfish, we speculated on the “why” and “how” of its demise and presence on the ice, knowing we would never know the real answer.
The afternoon turned out to have quite a surprise in store for us. William’s Cove is a lovely, tranquil bay near the mouth of Tracy Arm. JUST as we were preparing to drop the anchor, the quiet announcement came over my radio, “brown bear on the beach.” With that, everything came to a halt. Ship motionless, people tip-toeing, doors closing quietly, whispers floating through the air…and soon enough we determined a female brown bear with two small cubs was grazing/nursing/ambling around in a meadow just above the high-tide line.
We watched, wondered and photographed, for the longest time, until I finally decided to risk calling the next move: “drop the anchor” with trepidation (definitely) in case she would startle and run…but no. The captain and officers and crew lowered our anchor so softly, she barely gave us a look. And so it went throughout the afternoon. Zodiacs zipped back and forth from ship to shore; kayaks paddled out, people walked along the shore…throughout it all she behaved with the utmost diplomacy and allowed us to share her space. The occasional moment had her dashing into the trees, but overall, she accepted our presence up to the end. By the time we had all our folks back on board, the kayaks and Zodiacs stored and tied down, she was spotted one last time walking the tree’s edge, grazing on grasses and sedges as she moved her young family along the shoreline of William’s Cove, inside a wilderness area that belongs to all U.S. citizens. Come and see it!
