Alaska- Icy Strait Point and Tracy/Endicott Arm Fjord

We left Vancouver aboard the Serenade of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship. We had no problems with boarding, and our balcony room was great. Being new to cruising, it took us a few days to figure out how things work. We had a full day at sea on Sunday to wander around and locate all the essential areas (food, bar, pool....) The ship was huge and, from what we understand full, with about 2400 guests. We were truly lucky with the weather the entire week. The crew all told us this was the best weather they had seen on an Alaskan cruise in 7 years! Temperatures were in the 70's and 80's all week. (Not sure if that is good for Alaska...)

Our first port of call was Icy Strait Point, a location so basic it did not have a dock large enough for the ship. We all had to board the tenders to get ashore, but the crew was so organized, it really did not take long. Icy Strait Point, just outside of the little town of Hoonah, was the site of a salmon canning factory, now turned into little shops and a couple of places offering local crab and fish. We walked a nature trail through the woods, than into the town. The highlight of our walk was catching a glimpse of a couple of Bald Eagles. We had a light lunch at a little restaurant, trying a smoked salmon dip that was incredibly delicious. We plan to give it a try when we get home.

The next day we sailed into Tracy/Endicott Arm Fjord. By definition, a fjord is a valley carved out of mountain by a glacier. This fjord is about 30 miles long. Dale and I found a good spot at the rail on the helicopter pad at the bow of the ship. Although a beautiful blue-sky day, it was very windy and cold, so we shivered our way into the fjord, not wanting to give up our rail position. The place was spectacular- multiple waterfalls (our captain pulled the ship to within 60 yards of one of them so everyone could get their photos), steep walls, and distant snowy mountains. We were surprised by the number of icebergs, which got more numerous as we sailed closer to the glacier. Some were white, some dirty in appearance, others a beautiful blue.

As we made the final turn into the fjord to view the glacier, icebergs clogged the area. We heard rumors that crew members had never seen this much ice, and did not believe we would be able to get very close. Well, they were wrong. Using bow thrusters to push the icebergs out of our way, the captain managed to bring that huge ship very close to the glacier. It was unlike any other glacier we had seen on this trip- it looked like a turbulent blue river. At the edge that met the ocean, pieces of the glacier had "calved" or broken off into the water, leaving that edge a more vivid blue color than the rest. Really beautiful! The crew launched one of the rescue boats to get close to a few of the icebergs. They wanted to get a piece of the ice to use for an ice carving. Looked like they were having way to much fun! Overall, a spectacular day!

Tomorrow, we head to our next port, Skagway.