Alaska: Tracy Arm Fjord & Dog Sledding in Juneau

Alaska, June 2012

I was having breakfast in Oceanview Cafe (deck 10) when I spot the first iceberg floating not far from our ship. I excitedly walked to the open deck to have a closer look at it. Turned out it was a small one. So basically, icebergs are pieces of ice that formed on land and float in an ocean or lake. Icebergs come in all shapes and sizes, from ice-cube-sized chunks to ice islands the size of a small country. The term "icebergs" refers to chunks of ice larger than 5 meters (16 feet) across. Smaller icebergs, known as "bergy bits" less than 5 meters (15 feet) in size and "growlers" less than 2 meters (6.6 feet). If you want to learn more about icebergs, please read here.

It was a cold foggy morning and even though it was only 6 am, it seem like everyone has woken up. We were informed the day before that we would reach Tracy Arm Fjord early in the morning. And the ship would cruise along the area for few hours. So I guess nobody wanted to miss this gorgeous view.
  

chunk of icebergs

one misty morning in Alaska

the open deck

It was getting crowded on the open deck and rain started to pour, so I went back to my cabin and enjoying the view from my balcony instead. I think it's one of the reasons why it's worth to splurge a bit and have a cabin with private balcony. I wake up every morning to splendid scenery of Alaska. Or spend my afternoon lounging on my balcony wearing pajamas, sipping a huge mug of hot chocolate with Baileys while gazing at icy mountains of Alaska. Life is beautiful :)

The ship floated slowly and quietly toward Tracy Arm Fjord, a thirty mile glacial fjord that reaches deep into the Coast Mountains. The view was undoubtedly breathtaking. I've never seen such beautiful brilliant blue icebergs before. I read a fact that icebergs are sometimes bright blue because blue is the only wavelength of light able to make it all the way through the ice. I also spot several seals swimming close to our ship and were watching us curiously.

looking down from my balcony

beautiful blue iceberg

Tracy Arm Fjord

We left Tracy Arms Fjord at 10am and arrived in Juneau around 2pm. The ship tendered (anchored off shore) and we were transferred into some tender boats which took us to the pier. It was raining quite hard in Juneau that they had to cancel the snow dog sledding program. But there was another option to do dog sledding on gravel, so I went for it. I really wanted to meet those gorgeous Alaskan dog, I didn't mind whether it would be on snow or gravel.

tender boat

welcome to Juneau

Arrived on the pier, we were transferred to a bus. After 20 minutes drive along the rain forest, we arrived at the musher's camp and greeted by a bunch of Alaskan dogs. They barked excitedly waiting for us to board a wheeled golf cart. Every cart was attached to 12 dogs that looked really happy running while pulling a cart behind them. It was so fast, it felt like a roller coaster ride. The musher explained that it's some kind of sport for the dogs to keep in shape during summer. Super fun ! I'd love to do it again next time.

beautiful Alaskan Malamute

We ended the tour cuddling some of the adorable puppies in the camp. They were the most cutest blue eyed puppies I've ever seen. I was so tempted to sneak one of them into my bag :p
In case you've missed the part 1 of my Alaskan Cruise, read the story here