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Alaska by Ferry

September 2001 trip to Juneau and beyond

North to Juneau

Tracy Arm Cruise

Skagway & White Pass

Sitka & return

Tracy Arm Cruise

Journal

Tuesday 9/4: all day catamaran cruise from Juneau's Marine Park
Three stops for humpback whales
Icebergs in Inside Passage
Tracy Arm Fjord twists 30 miles inland
Waterfalls and melting floes keep trip interesting

Juneau in wake of catamaran

South to icebergs and whales

Falls up close

First blue ice

Inside the Arm

This was a strictly touristy, sightseeing thing to do but I really enjoyed it. The catamaran is no place to do any writing, so I again left myself a lot to recreate later. The trip back down the Inside Passage to the mouth of the fjord alternated between trying to make speed and drifting about when there were whales in sight. We were told our two or three sightings were above average for the time of year. The humpbacks are larger, but not nearly as entertaining as the orcas I had seen down in the San Juan Islands of Puget Sound.

The biggest problem with these pictures is that they don't get the true scale right. And it's hard to spot the wildlife that's pretty dense near the glacier, compared to how barren most of the Alaska landscape has been so far.

This "arm" is less popular and therefore less crowded than Glacier Bay. That trip was longer, more expensive and overrun with the big cruise ships. We only encountered the one other tour boat at the glacier, so it seemed like a good choice.

The cracking, booming glacier gives you the sense there's a big old icy continent behind it spilling into the ocean. Note to self: save up for a helicopter tour of the icefields next time.