Tracy Arm

Sunday June 17th 2012

We left Petersburg finally on Friday morning and the rain stayed off most of the way up to Tracy Arm anchorage .

Approaching Tracy Arm entrance bar, this glacier is in Endicott Arm and does not reach tidewater

Looking out from the anchorage into the bay

Looking back towards Tracy Arm Bar

View from Tracy Arm anchorage

We had a nice quiet night at anchor but on Saturday morning it was pouring rain and stayed that way all day. The clouds were so low and rain so heavy that there was no point in trying to sightsee . We saw a few day tour vessels from Juneau going in and out  but those tourists sure wouldn’t see much of the scenery.

Local residents

Different ways to see Alaska

Mysterious foggy mountains

Day tour boat leaving in the rain

On Sunday morning, June 17th, it was still foggy and raining and we considered just leaving here and going on to Juneau however it looked like it may clear later and sure enough by 4 PM it brightened up and we even saw sunshine for five minutes or so. We took the opportunity and cruised up to the end of the fiord and managed to get within a couple of miles of the big glacier before there was too much ice to continue.

Iceberg enroute to glacier

Bigger iceberg

Tracy Arm fiord

Where do we steer from here??

Bear country

South Sawyer glacier from about  3 miles away

Getting closer but see ice floes between us and glacier

Mum and baby

As close as we can get without an icebreaker

North Sawyer Glacier does not reach tidewater

Beautiful wilderness view

Apparently if you are there with the big cruise ships they  push a path through the ice and you can get closer to the glacier but since we were all alone (and nobody to help us out if we got stuck) we decided not to push our luck.

  

We were back at the same (only) anchorage by 9 PM, now we have some company there.
 We  will continue on to Juneau in the morning.