Sawyer Glacier

The cruise ship took a bit of a detour down the Tracy Arm to the Sawyer Glacier.  They used the word detour but it is part of the ship's schedule.  The Tracy Arm is an inlet that dead ends where the glacier rolls into the ocean.  One guide told us that there were a series of glaciers connected that ran for miles through the mountain. 


As we flowed down the Tracy Arm it was truly amazing.  Looking forward, it looked like we would run out of the water way.  One mountain chain coming from the right and another coming from the left with the ship looking like it was going to run ashore. Then we would turn slightly and the water between the mountain chains would magically appear.  I wondered what brave soul, was the first to challenge the mountains and find out that they weren't overlapping land masses but instead two separate masses with a very windy waterway between them.




Glacier Ice by Tour Boat

As we got closer to the glacier, we saw pieces of the glacier that had broken off and were  floating down the water way.  When they announced that we were going by the glacier, it came with a warning that it was contingent of the amount of ice that had fallen off the glacier.  The ships and boats not only had to navigate the winding waterway but they also needed to navigate around chunks of blue ice and other boats and ships.



Close up of Sawyer Glacier

You can see where the outer ice has fallen away.  I don't know the history behind the Tracy Arm but I would guess that the Sawyer Glacier most likely extended the full length of the arm at one point in time.  The glaciers have been melting for thousands and tens of thousands of years.  That means global warming has been occurring long before mankinds jump forward in technology.


Sawyer Glacier

The dark blue color prevalent in the glacier comes from thousands of years of compression.  Ice that has been compressed for longer periods of times refract a darker blue than the freshly fallen white snow. The trip up the Tracy Arm and viewing of the Sawyer glacier was a chilling experience in more ways than one.  It was thrillingly exciting to see so much beauty on both sides of the ship.  I also wished that I had packed gloves.  

Sawyer Glacier Blue

Obviously this is a photo taken with my zoom lens.  It was not safe to get this close with all the ice floating around.  It was obvious that the cruise ship captain was very safe and cautious as they brought us to the Sawyer Glacier and turned the ship around in the small dead end area.  The small boat that was shown in a previous shot was actually delivering new passengers and staff to the ship.