Exploring Alaska 7 Day Adventure

First Days: Icebergs and Glaciers

Southeast Alaska can be a difficult place to live, work and play. The weather is gloomy, cold and rainy almost year round. A few months of the year, there are only have a few hours of daylight each day. Only a few weeks of summer can be expected each year, and this year South East Alaska saw only two. There are few roads that connect the cities and towns. Juneau, the capital of Alaska, is an island city. Located on the mainland, it is completely isolated and impossible to drive into or out of, beyond only a few miles. This major city is connected to the outside world only by boat or plane. This remote, nearly pristine region, with all its islands, stunning mountains, massive glaciers, beautiful waterfalls, deep narrow waterways and so much more, is truly spectacular. My family and I had an opportunity to experience seven days and nights of SE Alaska, from a very up-close and personal perspective. Alaska Quest Charters is one of the very best, most professional and most knowledgable charters in Alaska. Captain Tom Satre and his wife Tish were wonderful, knowledgable and skillful hosts.   

Alaska Quest

Snow Fields

Mountains

Icebergs

Iceberg

Iceberg

Iceberg

Iceberg

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On our first day sailing out of Juneau the weather was perfect. The seas were calm with warm temperatures and beautiful clear blue skies. My daughter would comment a few days later that she had to come to Alaska to get her summer tan. We headed south through Gastineau Channel towards Stephens Passage. Admiralty Island was to our west and soon we're seeing and navigating past large icebergs. The sun's blue light is the only light able to penetrate the dense ice. As the day waned, we glided past Tracy Arm into No Name Cove to drop anchor. That evening we dined on perfectly prepared Filet Mignon, accompanied with a delicious Malbec. 
By mid day of our second day, we were approaching our first close encounter with the massive South Sawyer Glacier. Although difficult to gauge how large and impressive the size of this glacier is, I've tried to present my shots below to demonstrate its grandeur. In the third shot below is a 65' tourist boat, about 300 yards from the glacier. Look close in the lower right corner of the first shot. Then compare it with the bottom right corner of the third shot, after the tour boat has moved in close at the base of the glacier.
While on the top deck of the Quest enjoying this spectacular view, Tish brought us our lunch. We dined at a table for six, with one of the greatest views on the planet. Massive chunks of ice and rock calving off as we dined on delicious Minestrone soup and crab salad sandwiches. A few moments after a massive piece of glacier fell into the water with a great boom, the entire bay was rocked with powerful waves. That piece of glacier may have been over 1000 feet tall when it fell. 

Iceberg

South Sawyer Glacier from a mile away

South Sawyer Glacier

South Sawyer Glacier

North Sawyer Glacier

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Later that afternoon we fished for ice at the North Sawyer Glacier. My daughter Sahana is seen below scooping up pieces of glacial ice that probably originated millions of years ago. We continued past SumDum Glacier and dropped anchor in Windham Bay for our second night. Before dinner we set out our shrimp pots, one of the things I had never done before in my life. Finally For dessert and to end our amazing second day, we set out in the skiff to see Humpback Whales breaching in the bay. 

Sahana Ice Fishing Glacial Ice

Sahana Ice Fishing Glacial Ice

2 Humpback Whales breathing in Taku Harbor

A Humpback Whale's fluke in Taku Harbor

Dinner first nitght

Map of trip

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