SV FLUENTA : Tracy Arm - More Fluenta and Ice

Lots of ice and great lighting in the early morning.

With my parents visiting we decided we had get out of Juneau and show them (and us !) some of the sites so we did a rather packed trip to Tracy Arm. We sailed overnight to arrive at the mouth of Tracy Arm at sunrise to give us enough time to transit up the arm and back out again in the daylight. It was a spectacular trip up Tracy Arm with glistening cliffs and white and blue ice. The ice was getting too thick by late September so could not make it all the way to the face of the glacier. We did stop and drifted for awhile with the ice around us to celebrate Victoria's 16th birthday.

As usual, Liz leading us through the obstacles. Ice rather than reefs this time.

We made it to a nice anchorage at the entrance just before dark. It was rather chilly the next morning as the "new" heater was acting up again in the 2C weather but once we got underway it was warm again (very glad we put the heat exchanger into the engine circuit so can heat the boat as we motor). With a sea temperature of 5C the boat cools off quickly.

A calm morning to transit up Tracy Arm

We left with time to arrive back in Auke Bay in daylight but we diverted to watch an amazing display by the humpback whales. We stopped the boat and a pod of over 12 whales surrounded our drifting boat for an hour or more. Quite a show !