After running all night around the northern tip of Admiralty Island and down Stephens Passage, we “crossed the bar” at Holcomb Bay at 5 a.m. in order to reach our destination at the South Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm-Ford’s Terror Wilderness Area in Southeast Alaska. “The Bar” is a term for the terminal moraine where the bottom of Stephens Passage rises from the depths to around 40 feet and indicates where the Sawyer and South Sawyer Glaciers once formed a magnificent face of ice. We cruised throughout the morning, stopping briefly at the place where the face of Sawyer Glacier now resides, and then moved closer to the South Sawyer Glacier where we disembarked on our expedition landing craft to view waterfalls, icebergs, harbor seals, and glacial calving.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 18 Jun 2019
Pavlof Harbor, Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness Area, 6/18/2019, National Geographic Venture
- Aboard the National Geographic Venture
- Alaska
Lynn Wilbur, Naturalist/Expedition Diver
Lynn is a marine biologist and underwater photographer whose passion lies in the intertidal zone. Lynn’s love of the ocean began when she was just four years old after experiencing a tide pool for the first time, and she received her first scuba cert...
Read MoreShare Report
Alaska's Inside Passage
VIEW ITINERARYRelated Reports
9/6/2024
Read
National Geographic Quest
Glacier Bay National Park
We awoke to a wall of ice towering outside of the ship. Sometime in the night we anchored alongside the monumental Johns Hopkins Glacier. Along the base of the glacier, hundreds of harbor seals lounged on the rafts of ice, and stunning mountain views accompanied the impressive natural feature for which the park was named. After eating breakfast with a glacial blue backdrop, we pulled anchor and began our exploration of the park in earnest. We visited several more glaciers, including prime examples of tidewater, hanging, and beached varieties; we also observed large numbers of sea otters and surf scoters. After lunch we turned our focus to wildlife and were rewarded with views of mountain goats on Gloomy Knob, as well as a brown bear excavating a comfortable resting spot on the beach. Later we were treated to a surprise concert by one of our guests (award winning musician Jim Peterick). We wrapped up the day with a visit to South Marble Island where dozens of tufted puffins and large rafts of Steller sea lions gave excellent views.
9/5/2024
Read
National Geographic Quest
Inian Islands and Salt Chuck Bay
Today we began our adventures by dropping anchor at one of our favorite locations in Southeast Alaska, the Inian Islands! We disembarked National Geographic Quest to hop into our Zodiacs to explore this wild archipelago. Later in the day we repositioned to an anchorage in Port Althorp, known as Salt Chuck Bay. We got the chance to explore by kayaking as well as hiking through the meadow in the bay and the lush rainforest. It was a fantastic day in Southeast Alaska!