After our stroll on the deck, it was starting to become quiet obvious that William was getting tired....JUST as we were approaching Endicott Arm.
While planning, this was the day that I thought a lot about it. I wanted to "do it right." Should I camp out on Deck 10 all day? Hit up the Deck 7 Aft overlook? Go swimming because the pools would be heated and empty? Eat pea soup? Dine on grilled salmon? Take Shutters pictures with the glacier?
But with a toddler... well, a toddler is going to do what a toddler is going to do. However, I didn't mind, because we had the verandah. And for that reason- I think it's so worth it if you have a little one on an Alaskan cruise. However, if we didn't have a room with a view, I would have felt just as comfortable tucking him into one of the nursery's cribs so that I could enjoy the day that is Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm.
We learned earlier in the day that we were going to be sailing through Endicott Arm versus Tracy Arm.
You can see in this Google Earth Image that Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm are very close together. Tracy Arm is the North Enrance, whereas the Endicott Arm is below it. Some naturalists call Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm the "twin sister fjords," and as you can see- they share the same opening and mountain range.
Someday I would like to go through Tracy Arm, as the fjord is more narrow and supposed to be just a bit more majestic. However, one naturalist says that the view of the glacier at the end of Endicott Arm is MUCH more satisfying. The ship can get much closer to Dawe's glacier and it's positioned so that you can see all of it's terminus in all of it's spectacular glory.
You can see Donald here in front of Sawyer's glacier and you can definitely see how the ship can't get quite as close because all of the icebergs. You'll also notice how it's tucked off a bit:
(But still undeniably spectacular.)
I've also been told that Endicott arm has more waterfalls and as I've already indicated- I'm a BIG fan of waterfalls!!
Another benefit of sailing down Endicott Arm is the awesome views you get of the sum dum hanging glacier, as it is actually IN Endicott Arm. So no need to be disappointed with Endicott Arm, my friends! It's quite spectacular and is by no means a poor substitute for Tracy Arm!
Here we are approaching Endicott Arm and Sum Dum glacier:
And now we are getting real up close and personal:
(This certainly looks like an icefall, doesn't it?
I scoured the internet and the USGS Glacier Glossary to try to figure out why some glaciers look so "wrinkly," which turns out is not a correct glacier term, and it appears that this look is when the glacier is highly fractured from movement.)
William was all nestled into bed as we passed by. (What was Andrew doing reading?!!! When the most beautiful scenery is going by?!)
I thought that this was a pretty neat picture, because the reflection captures the view from the stateroom and it was just AMAZING.
Oh and was just wonderful... and our journey down the fjord was JUST beginning.
I was having such a fantastic time!
At one point, the boat stopped to let those off for the "Tracy Arm" excursion. I wondered if they were going to go into Tracy Arm, since it was such a smaller boat, but they stayed in Endicott Arm with us. The catamaran stayed fairly close to the port side of the ship for awhile, which made me wonder if the port side is more scenic going into the fjord.
Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.
We could have ordered room service and had lunch together, but I wanted that notorious Tracy Arm Day lunch, which they still do not make mention of in the Personal Navigator!! I told Andrew that he could go up before me and he came back down a bit later looking just like Disgust from Inside Out.
He was just FLOORED that there were so many people there. He exclaimed, "IT WAS MOBBED!," but mind you- this is coming from the man who doesn't really like crowds...at all. (As a side note, he was surprised at how empty and spacious the boat felt most of the time. He is looking forward to continuing to cruise on the classic ships.)
So he decided to head up to Triton's for lunch, while I stayed with the sleeping baby. I turned on the view from the Bridge on the television and listened to the naturalist narration of the fjord.
The various different colors of green were just mesmerizing. Everything looked like it came directly from an artist's canvas.
In 1880, John Muir described this very area,
"The upper half of the fiord is about from a mile to a mile and a half wide, and shut in by sublime Yosemite cliffs, nobly sculptured, and adorned with waterfalls and fringes of trees, bushes, and patches of flowers; but amid so crowded a display of novel beauty it was not easy to concentrate the attention long enough on any portion of it without giving more days and years than our lives could afford."
"Gliding on and on, the scenery seemed at every turn to become more lavishly fruitful in forms as well as more sublime in dimensions--snowy falls booming in splendid dress; colossal domes and battle meets and sculptured arches of a fine neutral-gray tint, their bases raved by the blue fiord water; green ferny dells; bits of flower-bloom on ledges; fringes of willow and birch; and glaciers above all."
(BAAAH! I can't believe that Andrew is INSIDE eating at Triton's and missing ALL THIS!)
If you think that this is gorgeous in pictures- I promise you- no camera can do this day justice. I wrote down something that our naturalist said before he signed-off for the day...
"Use all the emotions you can to capture the feelings of being in Endicott Arm. This is BIG country."
And let me tell you... you will have BIG feelings to match.
One of the things that I wanted to feel... was RELAXED.
Maybe next time I will head up to Deck 9 and 10 to see how busy this day can be on the cruise, but I was enjoying my craft beer, while my little tyke was napping... it doesn't get much better than that, I'm afraid.
I ordered some room service before we got to the glacier. I wanted some hot chocolate, because I read that as you get closer to the glacier, it becomes more and more cold (which totally wasn't the case on our cruise). I was disappointed that it was just hot water with two packets of swiss miss. Next cruise, I will bring my own fancy shmancy hot chocolate, but nonethless, I dumped out some of the hot water and put the hot chocolate in the carafe to stay warm. I also ordered a cheese plate and two warm cookies.
I'm telling you...this is an awesome way to experience Tracy Arm Day:
(You'll note the excursion catamaran zooming right along).
My travel journal made an appearance, so let's see what I had to say in the moment:
"There is no breeze as the seagulls are flying overhead silently. There are two waterfalls two my right and an island right in front of me. The clouds are taking a break on the tops of the mountains.
A lot of the things I wanted to do is falling by the wayside in favor of just being present. Wanting to do everything sometimes takes away from everything in the present."
This moment was postcard worthy.
As you approach the glacier, the water starts to become almost tropical in appearance. This is because of "rock flour"-
http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/rock-flour/
Overtime, glaciers grind rocks into such fine particles,that they remain suspended in the water. It makes for really breathtaking scenery.