All were eager as we arose for our first full day aboard National Geographic Venture. We started by sailing our way through the beautiful Sergius Narrows. A brown bear and a surprising swimming Sitka black-tailed deer graced us with their presence through this narrow strip of water way. We also witnessed brown bears on shore, and some breaching humpbacks!
The afternoon brought us to Kelp Bay, where our first activities took place. Zodiac cruising around the bay was deemed the activity of choice! The weather could not have been better for our welcome to Southeast Alaska.
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.
