Icebergs and Glaciers-Tracy Arm Cove

We set off from Taku Harbor south in Stephens Passage into the fog to Tracy Arm Cove.

Dog Star in the fog (photo courtesy Sam Landsman). Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm each have tidewater glaciers (glaciers that reach the sea) at the heads of 20 mile long inlets. Each inlet has a bar of shallow water with a narrow inlet, the result of the furthest extent of the glacier in the past, piling up sand and rocks, leaving it behind as it retreated. Tidewater glaciers also calve large icebergs with breathtaking beauty.

Tracy Arm has a small cove just inside the bar, perfect for anchoring and a good base for exploring icebergs, waterfalls and wildlife and wildflowers by dingy.

The clear ice is useful for cocktails.

We noticed a splash of red along the bank of a river, so we had to investigate.

Common Silverweed (above)

Giant Indian Paintbrush (left)

Yarrow (below)

Kamchatka Lilly (above)

We came upon a raft of Surf Scoters, hundreds of them squawking and flapping around. We see a few of these birds in the Puget Sound in the winter, but never a raft this big!

Surf Scoters (left); Harlequin Ducks (above)

The high cirrus clouds made this beautiful rainbow sun halo.

We tried a little fishing for rockfish, but what caught our attention was a gurgling sound coming from the iceberg behind Julie. Fortunately, Julie thought to video the event.

The next day, we set off up Endicott Arm to find the source of all these beautiful blue icebergs. This required a lot of attention as we wound our way past large chunks of ice and the more difficult to spot "bergie bits," careful not to disturb any passengers.

Sumdum Glacier (above)

We finally made it to within a few miles of Dawes Glacier, at the head of Endicott Arm, before winding through the ice slowed our progress to a crawl. We lingered for a while, each of us posing our boat in front of the glacier before heading back to the entrance to Ford's Terror in time for the high slack current necessary for safe entry (see the next post).

Airship in front of Dawes Glacier, floating amongst the ice.