“The early bird gets the glacier!” is the goslings’ motto of Mother Goose. The fleet got under way bright and early, artic terns wheeling overhead, as the fleet pointed up Tracy Arm Cove to Sawyer Glacier. The wonders of Alaska get up early as well and Patos called out a humpback amongst the icebergs just as we departed the harbor. And no early morning glacial excursion would be complete without warm cinnamon buns homemade from Deception’s Bakery, delivered by dingy while underway.

Sun streamed over the tree tops and down into the fjord as the fleet wound around icebergs marveling at the memory of glaciers etched in stone. The Black Legged Kittiwake chirped and fluttered about their nests tucked into the striations in the cliff face above, while baby harbor seals cooed for their mommas from their icy perches. The katabatic winds howled through the fjord, heralding our arrival at the face of Sawyer Glacier. The fleet sat for a time, marveling at thousands of years of living ice and rock. Our patience and attention was rewarded with witnessing the glacier clave a huge portion of its face into the water below, rocking our boats and minds.  The fleet headed back down Tracy Arm traveling from bare, glacial exposed bedrock on all sides back to the old growth Hemlock-Spruce forests that dominate the Tongass National Forest. Once settled in serine Taku Harbor, the fleet cooked up a dinner that couldn’t be beat and headed over to Deception for an end of trip potluck. Full of good food and better conversation, the fleet went to sleep under a dusky Alaskan sky.