Our first day aboard National Geographic Sea Lion was filled with excitement and wonderment. Not wasting any time, we headed south towards Tracy Arm Fjord to South Sawyer Glacier. Cruising past icebergs, bergy bits, and growlers, everyone got to see the immensity of Southeast Alaska as the fjord’s steep granite walls rose around us. For the day’s first expedition, we loaded into Zodiacs to get a closer look at the face of South Sawyer, a tidewater glacier. We observed numerous harbor seals and even some bald eagles perched on the ice. In the afternoon, we cruised south in hopes of spotting some other charismatic megafauna, specifically humpback whales, as we sailed through Stephen’s Passage. It felt like we were in whale soup, as we became totally surrounded by humpbacks. Spouts and flukes were seen everywhere.