Day 45 –Tracy Arm to Snug Cove

∞We decided to go for it this morning and head up to the glaciers, a 5 hour round trip for this boat, before heading down to Snug Cove, another 4 hours, so a long day of running but lots to see. John is still having trouble with a leaky shaft seal so he has to bail out a couple gallons of water every morning that accumulates. He doesn’t want to really dig into tearing it down while we are in a remote location but maybe when we are in port in Sitka or Ketchikan. It’s manageable, just annoying since these engines are basically brand new as of last summer. Tracy Arm was PACKED with icebergs, so many beautiful and massive chunks of ice and I think I took way too many pictures of them but I don’t care, they were all so pretty. The head of Tracy Arm where the Sawyer Glacier (and North Sawyer Glacier) resides was so choked with ice that we could only get a ½ mile away from the glacier itself but what a sight….it was spectacular. The Sawyer Glacier is more dramatic than any of the ones in Glacier Bay. It is about another 500’ or more higher than the Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay and spews these gigantic icebergs at a rapid rate, which I suppose is a sign of our global warming trend so not a good thing. Anyway, besides the glacier itself, the sheer cliffs that lined the entire inlet were so stunning. A beautiful place.

∞On our trip down to Snug Cove, as we crossed the Frederick Sound, we saw humpbacks close to the boat and orcas in the distance. Then when we arrived in Snug Cove, Anne and I went for an exploration ride in the whaler and saw a massive grizzly on shore, a golden eagle fighting with two bald eagles, and later a seal writhing in the water as it killed its prey. A really good wildlife day all around. The grizzly was in a cove where we couldn’t get close due to the shoaling beach, so no good pictures of him. Lots of rainshowers today but nothing too serious, it always passed on.