The Arms family? Or a pair of pubs? No, the names of narrow fjords which both end at tidal glaciers roughly 50km in from their entrances. Crystal clear water, icebergs and eerily calm water. The Arms, one named after the US secretary for the Navy (who never visited) and the other for a college in the North East USA (no idea why), are staggeringly beautiful narrow passages of glacial action, flanked by tall mountains and cliffs. And underneath, roughly equally deep water - so, deep! But with the narrowness of the fjord and the icebergs in the channel the “arms” are restricted to only “small” boats with icebreaker classification. Which means us!
And wow! We were in Tracy Arm for hours, so even being in the moment left plenty of time for photographs. And I really did my best but most of the time it was hard to know where to look. Do you gaze at the blue icebergs floating by, at the cliffs for signs of mountain goats and other wildlife, the glacier itself, hoping it will calve in the middle of your photograph, or the harbour seals (which seem misnamed to me, given where they are living) lounging on a berg, possibly about to give birth? It’s all just too much. And then the crew bring you champagne on deck. I need a lie down.
But first a little science … just a little. The reason that some of the icebergs appear blue is that they have been compressed so much that the air bubbles that might have been originally present have been squeezed out, which apparently means that all colours of the light spectrum are absorbed, except the blue wavelength. So that is how they appear to our eyes. I just think they look really pretty, especially in calm water, in the sunshine, which has greeted our day and has not gone away.
So today we haven’t really gone very far, but we just might have seen some of the most beautiful scenery in the world you can see from a boat. And the weather gods have smiled on us - the sun has been out all day, enabling us not only to see the fabulous vistas but also their reflections in the calm clear water. Not sure I have a single picture that remotely does it justice, but to be honest I don’t care! No photo awards going to be won by me today. And we didn’t in the end get into Endicott Arm, but that was because of an unscheduled stop in Juneau, which will follow in the next instalment of this dross. Last pics...
The Sawyer Glacier almost caught calving.
Glory and reflected glory.
More reflections.
Where we were. Understated!
There are seals there. Knew I should have brought the big boy lens (like all the other nerds!) 😉
Stunning