Alaska 2010 – Day 12 – Tracy Arm Fjord
by Jay on Jul.18, 2010, under Alaska 2010, General, Vacation
Overnight, Royal Princess will follow southerly courses through the Lynn Canal and Stephens Passage. We will cross the shallow water bar at the entrance to Tracy Arm at 6:00AM and there follows a 25 mile transit of the fjord to Sawyer Island close to its end. The fjord is very narrow in places with the mountains rising sheer from its waters. 8:15AM would be a good time to be on the open decks or your cabin balconies to enjoy the best of the scenery. The intention is to be in the region of Sawyer Island at 9:00AM, and to remain there for 15 minutes before retracing our steps back through the Arm. We expect to cross the bar outbound at 11:30AM. Thereafter our route takes us south through Stephens Passage and the Chatham Strait. We will clear South East Alaska’s Inside Passage at 7:00PM and set various southerly courses towards Victoria.
We are nows sitting and waiting to see the comedian, Dick Gold, for the second time. He performed the last time we were on Royal Princess and he repeated that performance the other night.
Tonight however, he promises a new performance, so I trust that it’s entertaining. Today we were in Tracy Arm Fjord, an area I’ve never been to before. From what I hear, cruise ships have just recently been allowed into this area of Alaska, and it’s been more than “recently” since I’ve been here. Today was much like the Glacier Bay day, where we never got off the ship, but instead viewed the scenery outside. The day began at 6:20AM when we woke up and were already well on our way into Tracy Arm. Cliffs and waterfalls line both sides of the waterway, and the further in the ship goes, the more icebergs seem to appear. They are nicknamed “growlers” because of the sound they make when they hit the ship. It really is quite amazing to see hundreds of icebergs surrounding and bouncing off the ship hull. We never made it to our furthest destination as the ice got too dense, which saddened me, but some of these icebergs would be damaging to the ship, so it’s understandable. Heather and I had Champagne breakfast this morning in our cabin and watched the nature outside. I also shot a 22 minute video of the ship spinning 180 degrees as we turned around, and look forward to speeding it up when we get home.
We saw a National Geographic ship named Sea Lion, and saw two Harbor Seals; one fat one sitting on an iceberg, and a baby one swimming near the ship. Heather was very happy to see the seals. This afternoon after we had left Tracy Arm, we took a nap and watched Clash of the Titans. It has a Pegasus in it, which was really cool. For dinner, I had French Onion Soup (again; the Head Waiter makes it special for us now), Superior Lamb Rack, and Southern Fried Chicken. Now we’re here, sitting and waiting to see this comedian again before another full day at sea tomorrow.
Tonight however, he promises a new performance, so I trust that it’s entertaining. Today we were in Tracy Arm Fjord, an area I’ve never been to before. From what I hear, cruise ships have just recently been allowed into this area of Alaska, and it’s been more than “recently” since I’ve been here. Today was much like the Glacier Bay day, where we never got off the ship, but instead viewed the scenery outside. The day began at 6:20AM when we woke up and were already well on our way into Tracy Arm. Cliffs and waterfalls line both sides of the waterway, and the further in the ship goes, the more icebergs seem to appear. They are nicknamed “growlers” because of the sound they make when they hit the ship. It really is quite amazing to see hundreds of icebergs surrounding and bouncing off the ship hull. We never made it to our furthest destination as the ice got too dense, which saddened me, but some of these icebergs would be damaging to the ship, so it’s understandable. Heather and I had Champagne breakfast this morning in our cabin and watched the nature outside. I also shot a 22 minute video of the ship spinning 180 degrees as we turned around, and look forward to speeding it up when we get home.
We saw a National Geographic ship named Sea Lion, and saw two Harbor Seals; one fat one sitting on an iceberg, and a baby one swimming near the ship. Heather was very happy to see the seals. This afternoon after we had left Tracy Arm, we took a nap and watched Clash of the Titans. It has a Pegasus in it, which was really cool. For dinner, I had French Onion Soup (again; the Head Waiter makes it special for us now), Superior Lamb Rack, and Southern Fried Chicken. Now we’re here, sitting and waiting to see this comedian again before another full day at sea tomorrow.No comments for this entry yet...
