Endicott Arm, Ford’s Terror and Dawes Glacier
[Best if read in an English accent while channeling David Attenborough and/or Cate Blanchett.]
Although we didn’t actually set foot on land today, we can definitely say the land and the ice touched us.
Initially, our plans for this morning were to cruise up along Tracy Arm fjord, making way for either Sawyer or South Sawyer glacier. As the fjord narrowed, Captain Carden realized that Tracy Arm was too choked with icebergs for the Sea Lion to make it to South Sawyer glacier. Altering our course for Endicott Arm, we made way for a branch known as “Ford’s Terror.” Before we actually got to Ford’s Terror, though, we were slightly delayed – by a black bear sighting.
Timing our arrival at Ford’s Terror to coincide with the slack tide, we boarded Zodiacs and found ourselves enveloped in magnificent scenery. Steep granite walls towered above us on either side as we traveled further up the fjord. We tilted our necks back, back, back, tracing the cascading waterfalls to their origins high up on the snow-capped mountains. Bonaparte’s gulls and bald eagles soared above us, occasionally diverting our attention from the grand surroundings. We nosed the Zodiacs into deep, narrow crevasses, gliding right up to hidden waterfalls. Giant U-shaped valleys indicated where glaciers had once torn through the area. It’s amazing to think that just a few thousand years ago, glaciers were pushing forward through this same terrain, forcefully grinding their way through the landscape. Despite its “Terror-ible” name and its dramatic geological history, Ford’s Terror is awe-inspiring in its serene beauty.
Hard to believe after our morning’s cruises, but the best was still to come… The weather gods continued to favor us with clear skies and warm sunshine – the perfect conditions for a delicious on-deck lunch. The Sea Lion slowly threaded her way through bergy bits, in position to lower the Zodiacs for another round of exploring in the fjord. Once again, immense granite walls threaded with quartz surrounded us, but we hardly spared them a glance. All eyes were focused on the majestic wall of ice directly in front of us - Dawes glacier loomed at the end of the fjord.
From gleaming white to deepest blue, the glacier’s magnificence mesmerized us. We were captured by the beauty of the towering columns of ice along the face of the glacier. Reverently, we sat in the Zodiacs and just tried to take in this dynamic river of ice. One of our guests remarked that no one else in the world would ever see what we were seeing at this moment – as the ice calved, the face of the glacier was in a constant state of change. Others may have seen this glacier in the past, and many more people may view Dawes glacier in the future, but for this afternoon, we were the glacier’s lone audience. And what a show it gave us!
CRACK! BOOM! The ice settled, shifted, and groaned, the sounds echoing off the fjord walls. Gasping, we watched as school bus-sized chunks of ice dropped one hundred feet and more into the water below. At one point, almost the entire left side of the glacier gave way – the sight and sound of thousands of tons of ice calving is indescribable! Thanks to our skillful Zodiac drivers, we spent a most incredible afternoon at the face of Dawes glacier.
[Best if read in an English accent while channeling David Attenborough and/or Cate Blanchett.]
Although we didn’t actually set foot on land today, we can definitely say the land and the ice touched us.
Initially, our plans for this morning were to cruise up along Tracy Arm fjord, making way for either Sawyer or South Sawyer glacier. As the fjord narrowed, Captain Carden realized that Tracy Arm was too choked with icebergs for the Sea Lion to make it to South Sawyer glacier. Altering our course for Endicott Arm, we made way for a branch known as “Ford’s Terror.” Before we actually got to Ford’s Terror, though, we were slightly delayed – by a black bear sighting.
Timing our arrival at Ford’s Terror to coincide with the slack tide, we boarded Zodiacs and found ourselves enveloped in magnificent scenery. Steep granite walls towered above us on either side as we traveled further up the fjord. We tilted our necks back, back, back, tracing the cascading waterfalls to their origins high up on the snow-capped mountains. Bonaparte’s gulls and bald eagles soared above us, occasionally diverting our attention from the grand surroundings. We nosed the Zodiacs into deep, narrow crevasses, gliding right up to hidden waterfalls. Giant U-shaped valleys indicated where glaciers had once torn through the area. It’s amazing to think that just a few thousand years ago, glaciers were pushing forward through this same terrain, forcefully grinding their way through the landscape. Despite its “Terror-ible” name and its dramatic geological history, Ford’s Terror is awe-inspiring in its serene beauty.
Hard to believe after our morning’s cruises, but the best was still to come… The weather gods continued to favor us with clear skies and warm sunshine – the perfect conditions for a delicious on-deck lunch. The Sea Lion slowly threaded her way through bergy bits, in position to lower the Zodiacs for another round of exploring in the fjord. Once again, immense granite walls threaded with quartz surrounded us, but we hardly spared them a glance. All eyes were focused on the majestic wall of ice directly in front of us - Dawes glacier loomed at the end of the fjord.
From gleaming white to deepest blue, the glacier’s magnificence mesmerized us. We were captured by the beauty of the towering columns of ice along the face of the glacier. Reverently, we sat in the Zodiacs and just tried to take in this dynamic river of ice. One of our guests remarked that no one else in the world would ever see what we were seeing at this moment – as the ice calved, the face of the glacier was in a constant state of change. Others may have seen this glacier in the past, and many more people may view Dawes glacier in the future, but for this afternoon, we were the glacier’s lone audience. And what a show it gave us!
CRACK! BOOM! The ice settled, shifted, and groaned, the sounds echoing off the fjord walls. Gasping, we watched as school bus-sized chunks of ice dropped one hundred feet and more into the water below. At one point, almost the entire left side of the glacier gave way – the sight and sound of thousands of tons of ice calving is indescribable! Thanks to our skillful Zodiac drivers, we spent a most incredible afternoon at the face of Dawes glacier.
