We woke up sailing north through Icy Straight on our way to George Island where we start the day with hiking, kayaking, and a few brave souls even went swimming in the frigid Alaskan water. This beautiful island has a long and interesting history including use as a military base during WWII to protect Cross Sound from Japanese invasion. We then move National Geographic Sea Lion a short distance north to the Inian Islands where strong tidal currents bring an abundance of fish and with it the predators that prey on those fish.
7/14/2024
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National Geographic Venture
Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness
We started the day with Zodiac tours of South Sawyer Glacier, a tidewater glacier. The air was cool, and it rained throughout the day, but that made the waterfalls gush. The walls of the Tracy Arm were dark yet glistening, and blue icebergs recently calved from South Sawyer Glacier stood out. The sea water stood in contrast against the ice. The brown of the land flushing into the sea swirled with a rusty hue that turned out to be a zooplankton bloom. The misty afternoon was spent kayaking from the base of one of the waterfalls with icebergs in various forms carried by nearby currents. It all made for a fantastic backdrop with swallows swooping close to the output of the falls, arctic terns darting and calling above, harbor seals cautiously following along, and pigeon guillemots surfacing with a whole silvery fish in their bills. After such a fantastic day, we finished up by viewing numerous waterfalls cascading down the steep fjord walls and a look at Sawyer Glacier misted in fingerlike clouds. What a beautiful sight.