Tracy Arm
We awoke to ice and water and liquid sunshine. An enormous iceberg lay glistening off the port side of the ship. Artistic mist drifted amidst greens and grays and waterfalls, tracing wispy lines that led our eyes deep into the fjord of Tracy Arm. Better poets than I have described its splendor, so I’ll focus on the essentials: rock, ice, differential light absorption and breakfast. After a glorious repast of bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon we returned to the bow for a lesson in geology (the foundation of everything).
Rock: The Tracy Arm terrane is composed of metamorphic rocks bearing pun-friendly names such as gneiss and schist. Their steep walls loomed thousands of feet overhead, providing the ideal landscape for the waterfall enthusiast. Our intrepid Captain provided us with close views of these mighty cascades by delicately nosing our bow within feet of the rushing water. Cameras clicked and whirred and then we moved on.
Ice: Growlers. Bergy-bits. Icebergs. Sculptures of wind and time. Monuments of snowstorms past. Time capsules of pollen, spores and dust. Bonded molecules in a crystal lattice. Ephemeral. Reflective. Cold and smooth. Most of all – blue. Cobalt, turquoise, sapphire and sky trapped within a matrix of silver. But why?
Differential light absorption: Why is the ice so blue? Few believed the naturalists’ tales of ice fairies and injected dyes. Yet the physical explanation seems equally intangible. The dense, thick, and air-bubble free glacial ice of the Sawyer glaciers pulses with every shade of blue. Light enters the ice and then refracts, transferring energy to the hydrogen bonds that connect each molecule of water. Like strings on a guitar, these bonds are tuned. They selectively absorb the long wavelengths of red-spectrum light over the short wavelengths of blues and indigos. The result? The transmitted and refracted light is blue-enriched, an effect best observed under the dry, cloudy skies of our morning’s adventure.
When we arrived at the South Sawyer glacier we found the channel packed with ice and dotted with photogenic seals and fresh pups. We boarded Zodiacs to better explore the scene, carefully maneuvering to avoid disturbing the resting mammals. Afternoon drifted into evening and our ship drifted back into Stephens Passage for a final sunset. As luck would have it we found a young humpback whale who lifted our hearts with its exhilarating breaching and tail-slapping. Satiated (and a wee bit chilled!) we returned to the lounge for a slide show and the Captain’s Farewell Dinner. Toasts and smiles were abundant as we said our farewells and prepared for the long journey home. Safe travels everyone.
We awoke to ice and water and liquid sunshine. An enormous iceberg lay glistening off the port side of the ship. Artistic mist drifted amidst greens and grays and waterfalls, tracing wispy lines that led our eyes deep into the fjord of Tracy Arm. Better poets than I have described its splendor, so I’ll focus on the essentials: rock, ice, differential light absorption and breakfast. After a glorious repast of bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon we returned to the bow for a lesson in geology (the foundation of everything).
Rock: The Tracy Arm terrane is composed of metamorphic rocks bearing pun-friendly names such as gneiss and schist. Their steep walls loomed thousands of feet overhead, providing the ideal landscape for the waterfall enthusiast. Our intrepid Captain provided us with close views of these mighty cascades by delicately nosing our bow within feet of the rushing water. Cameras clicked and whirred and then we moved on.
Ice: Growlers. Bergy-bits. Icebergs. Sculptures of wind and time. Monuments of snowstorms past. Time capsules of pollen, spores and dust. Bonded molecules in a crystal lattice. Ephemeral. Reflective. Cold and smooth. Most of all – blue. Cobalt, turquoise, sapphire and sky trapped within a matrix of silver. But why?
Differential light absorption: Why is the ice so blue? Few believed the naturalists’ tales of ice fairies and injected dyes. Yet the physical explanation seems equally intangible. The dense, thick, and air-bubble free glacial ice of the Sawyer glaciers pulses with every shade of blue. Light enters the ice and then refracts, transferring energy to the hydrogen bonds that connect each molecule of water. Like strings on a guitar, these bonds are tuned. They selectively absorb the long wavelengths of red-spectrum light over the short wavelengths of blues and indigos. The result? The transmitted and refracted light is blue-enriched, an effect best observed under the dry, cloudy skies of our morning’s adventure.
When we arrived at the South Sawyer glacier we found the channel packed with ice and dotted with photogenic seals and fresh pups. We boarded Zodiacs to better explore the scene, carefully maneuvering to avoid disturbing the resting mammals. Afternoon drifted into evening and our ship drifted back into Stephens Passage for a final sunset. As luck would have it we found a young humpback whale who lifted our hearts with its exhilarating breaching and tail-slapping. Satiated (and a wee bit chilled!) we returned to the lounge for a slide show and the Captain’s Farewell Dinner. Toasts and smiles were abundant as we said our farewells and prepared for the long journey home. Safe travels everyone.
