Our photo expedition through the coastal wilderness of Southeast Alaska began early this morning as National Geographic Sea Lion left Stephen’s Passage and entered the wide, calm waters of Holkham Bay. Turning to the north and then to the east we made our way into Tracy Arm, the spectacular twenty mile-long fiord that forms the northern arm of the bay.
Most of us were just getting our first cup of coffee when Captain Nettles slowed the ship and turned toward the north wall of the fiord where a beautiful waterfall was cascading down through the tall spruce and hemlock trees. Slowly and carefully the captain brought the bow of the ship closer and closer to the rushing water, until we were looking straight up the falls. It was a thrilling start for photography in this rich region of Alaska.
By the time we finished breakfast we had arrived at the head of the valley, in sight of the South Sawyer Glacier, where the granite walls soar three thousand feet above the water. Eager for a closer look we donned our life jackets and boarded the expedition landing craft for a tour though the headwaters of the fiord. Harbor seals watched us while we were watching crystal clear and cerulean blue icebergs. Pigeon guillemots and marbled murrlets floated nearby and some of us spotted a mountain goat on a ledge high above. And the highlight for everyone was the blue and white face of the glacier, deeply riven with crevasses, its face towering hundreds of feet about the glassy calm water. We watched and waited patiently and were awed by the spectacle of icebergs being born when pieces of the glacier thundered down into the sea.
In the afternoon we cruised back down the long fiord, heard an introductory presentation on expedition photography and then made a landing in Williams Cove. Here we explored the forest in the company of the naturalists and photographers, learning about devil’s club and correct exposures, Sitka spruce and creative angles, and the biology and photography of the lovely fungi that we found everywhere on the forest floor.
It was a long full day full of fun and beauty, a fantastic start to our expedition.
