This was the day I was least excited about on the itinerary, but boy was I wrong. Between Val and myself, we took over 500 photos in the few hours we were in the Fjord. It was just AMAZING. This is one of the twin Sawyer Glaciers we saw in the Fjord.
Oxford dictionary defines a Fjord as a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, typically formed by submergence of a glaciated valley. The icebergs essentially cut a path through mountains. This was the opening of the Fjord. Here we go..... (not as clear as the one above as the one below was taken a few hours earlier).
We bundled up and got out on our balconies very early. We entered the Fjord around 6:30am. Although we had unusually warm weather the entire trip, at 6:30am it's darn cold! Also, that's "unusually warm" by Alaska standards. This LA girl was cold!
This is what the cruise line calls "scenic cruising", meaning we do not actually stop or dock at a place. We just cruise at a slow pace for the view. This Fjord extends over 30 miles. The ship had a naturalist onboard to point out wildlife and things of interest. About half way through the "scenic cruising", the ship stopped and some of us boarded a catamaran that would take us further in. Here's the little boat coming along side the ship for us ......
The cliffs at Tracy Arm Fjord were huge granite walls. And even through we were cruising very close to the mountain walls, the waters were deep enough. Deep enough that we passed another Princess ship. There must be huge demand for these Alaska cruises, because there were at least 3 Princess ships at many of the places we went. Impressive right?
There were waterfalls, or "cascades" everywhere. Really, everywhere. As the snow on the mountaintops melts, it has to go somewhere.
And then, as we get further into the Fjord, we start coming upon ice in the water. And much of it is blue ice. So darn pretty.
And then we came upon the Sawyer Iceberg. Let's just say...... WOW.
To give you an idea of how massive this thing is-- see the little black dots on the left side, about 1/4 of the way up --- those are seals.
And the first photo up top (the teaser!) is the other of the twin Sawyer icebergs. It was all just so beautiful. This is just a few more random photos of this amazing day.
So, if you do an Alaska cruise that goes through Tracy Arm Fjord you will see some beautiful things from the ship for sure. But if you can swing it - take the catamaran that takes you further in as well. We are so glad we did!