National Geographic Venture sailed south along Chatham Strait on June 14 under partly cloudy skies. The ship entered Kelp Bay on the east side of Baranof Island before breakfast, and guests prepared for a day of adventure in the middle arm of the bay. We split into groups for hikes along the shoreline and Zodiac cruises in the bay. After a spectacular morning with bear, orcas, and deer sightings, we continued south in Chatham Strait to pick up Andy Szabo from the Alaska Whale Foundation. National Geographic Venture continued south along Chatham Strait to enjoy a lecture on humpback whales and a fine dinner with orcas circling the ship.
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.
