Day 3 – Tracy Arm

Day 3 of the cruise was one we were REALLY excited for.  The Wonder would be entering Tracy Arm Fjord and going to see the Sawyer Glacier.  This is always reported as one of the highlights of the cruise and we were really looking forward to it.  We got up at some point and headed up for Beach Blanket to get some French toast.  We sat on the outdoor seating area so we could enjoy the sights.

The one great thing about going to Alaska is that there is wildlife everywhere.  And this day was no exception.  While eating breakfast, a pod of whales or porpoises came up beside the boat.  I’m not even going to pretend to know what kind of mammals they were.  We saw porpoises as well as Orcas many times on the boat.  Here are the pictures:

After watching the wildlife for a bit, the younger child headed off to her club for the next few hours.  The ship wouldn’t be entering Tracy Arm Fjord for a few hours, so we figured she might as well enjoy herself.  The rest of us setup shop on Deck 4, since we didn’t have a veranda for this trip.  I’m not gonna lie, this was the coldest part of the entire trip.

Here are some of the pictures we took outside of the Fjord:

As we started to enter the Fjord, I went off the get the younger child and get some food in her.  I wanted to make sure she had lots of time to see the glacier as well as any wildlife we encountered.  She wasn’t exactly happy to leave the club.  This was a common theme as we were on the cruise.  She LOVED the kids clubs.  I think she would have been happy to stay on shore somewhere as long as the kids clubs were there.  I took her to eat at Beach Blanket as quickly as possible, then we headed down to Deck 4.  Here are some of the incredible sights we saw on the way to the glacier:

There were cast members giving out blankets and hot chocolate on Deck 4.  I believe they were grilling salmon somewhere on Deck 9 as well, but we weren’t moving from our spots that we had camped out in.  We did have a visitor who stopped by to play some shuffleboard with us:

I don’t recall how long it took to get to the glacier, but it was well worth the wait.

Here is a boat for scale.  I don’t know how big it was, but it seems to have two levels to it.  I’m guessing maybe it was 25 feet or so above the water line.

We even got to see the glacier calve while we were there.  The guide said it was called “white thunder”.  It was definitely loud.  I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the smaller boats that were closer to the glacier when it happened.

There were a large number of seals out on the ice, so the Wonder couldn’t get closer to the glacier.  The ice was constantly moving around, so the seals ended up beside the boat at one point:

Its a bit hard to pick out because of the varying light conditions, but the ice was an amazing blue color.

We probably stayed near the glacier for a good two to three hours.  After a while, the younger child was done.  She wanted back in the club.  We took her down there, since everybody should get to enjoy their vacation.  The rest of us stayed on Deck 4 for a long time, taking in the sights so we wouldn’t forget them.  It is hard to describe everything we saw, but we did manage to capture two photographs to give you an idea of the size of what we were seeing.  The first is some people on kayaks coming out of Tracy Arm Fjord.  The second is them against the side of the Fjord.  Look really closely at the bottom of the second picture and you might be able to pick out the red kayak.

This was one of the most memorable days I have ever had on a vacation.  I’m sure they will also remember it for a long, long time.

Planning | Travel | Boarding | Sea Day | Tracy Arm | Skagway | Juneau | Ketchikan | Sea Day | Disembarkation

 

 

* Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Email!