Tracy Arm Wilderness Area
Technically I can say that yesterday began at midnight when I was called from sleep by the news that the northern lights were out, and what’s more, staying visible for a while! On many previous occasions they had evaporated by the time I had dressed and climbed my way to the bridge, but last night/early morning, they were beautiful despite the lack of any fancy colors. The pulsing aerial waves were mesmerizing, and for several of us (those that reacted to my P.A. call at that unusual hour), we sat in silence up on the bow, black waves below, pale curtains appearing and disappearing above.
The morning continued in a wonderful vein. For the first time in a long time I was in the right place at the right time to watch a young, scrawny black bear come out of the woods to forage in the intertidal zone. Some hikers further down watched from a safe distance while just a few of us in kayaks slowly moved up without disturbing him. Never too close, we watched in fascination, and in the silence could hear him gnawing and crunching the tough barnacles. Disturbed he was, however, when in an instant he (she?) looked over his shoulder and took off in a mad dash for the tree line down the shore as a larger black bear (but brown in coloration), dashed out to defend its territory. Needless to say, the younger bear never came into view again, and the larger made its way slowly back into the woods soon after. “Yo bear” was the call of the morning for the hikers who may have previously doubted the presence of these impressive animals in the area.
That same morning many of our younger guests got the thrill of their trip when our Bo’sun Sean took them out for Zodiac driving lessons (and were given honorary licenses later!).
The afternoon had the Sea Bird “up arm” in Tracy Arm fjord, and Zodiacs were lowered near South Sawyer Glacier for our last excursion of the week. The rides included an awe-inspiring calving at one moment, and good looks at harbor seals hauled out at the base of blue, blue walls of compressed ice. What a finale!
