Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Explorer

[mj5739]

If you have the opportunity, take the Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Explorer tour out of Juneau.

We were on the NCL Sun last week ( 7/8 - 7/15 ). We took this excursion and it was by far the highlight of our cruise. We left from the pier directly beside our ship. The trip down to the Arm takes about an hour and a half. The crew on the boat worked extra hard trying to find wildlife on the way into the Arm. We saw a humpback whale, a black bear, several eagles, seals, mountain goats, and a harbor porpoise. Once we got to Sawyer Glacier he manouvered the boat as close as he safely could. He turned off the engines so you could hear the white thunder of the glacier. The scenery is hard to describe and pictures don't do it justice. We spent about an hour at both the North and South Glacier and then met our ship back at the entrance to the North glacier. Our ship was not able to get to either glacier because of the heavy ice flow. Hundreds of people were on the decks and balconies watching our boat and taking pictures and waving at us as our boat tied up along side so we could board the ship. We would have really been disappointed if we had stayed on the ship and not been able to see the glaciers.

One side note: Wear layers of warm clothes, hats, and gloves so you can stay out on the outside decks. Our boat captain said the temperature at the glacier was 38.