Just after midnight, in the first minutes of the day, guests rose from their sleep to witness an amazing phenomenon, the Aurora Borealis. A bright moon, stars and the Milky Way added to the show. After dawn, at breakfast, we cruised into the north arm of Holkham Bay. Tracy Arm is a majestic, jade-watered fjord home to Sawyer and South Sawyer Glaciers. Dense rock resisted erosion and created the steep sides and deep water of this fjord. Near the face of South Sawyer Glacier, harbor seals peppered the floating ice. We cruised the northern extension of the fjord towards Sawyer Glacier, then back out into Chatham Strait in hopes of more wildlife.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 01 Sep 2021
Tracy Arm, Southeast Alaska, 9/1/2021, National Geographic Quest
- Aboard the National Geographic Quest
- Alaska
Kimberly Baldwin, Naturalist
Family vacations to the Jersey shore engendered a deep love affair between the ocean and Kimberly Baldwin. But growing up in Pennsylvania proved challenging for a hopeful marine biologist. College afforded the opportunity to earn a B.S. in Marine Bio...
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!