It provided a backdrop for some great group shots. Best of all, just take a moment to quietly observe the clouds dance in the sky or across the mountain. It was simply awe inspiring. Thank you for your comments. Lots of calving while we were there! If you look carefully across and spot a camp sight with a bright yellow tent you can guess like the rest of us as to why they're there - I think they're scientist or some really adventurous people. I'm a little concerned about getting into Tracy Arm as the cruise leaves end of June. Depending on the ice you'll see the seals spread in front of the glacier or by the rock wall. Is it easier for cruise ships to get closer to Dawes Glacier than Sawyer Glacier? Red arrow 1985 terminus, yellow arrow 2020 terminus and purple dots the snowline. Sawyer Glacier: Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier instead of Tracy Arm/Sawyer - See 158 traveler reviews, 110 candid photos, and great deals for Juneau, AK, at Tripadvisor. Pro: Silversea is a luxury cruise line, unlike . A naturalist on board the cruise said she actually prefers Endicott. However, we were definitely not disappointed with Endicott Arm and the Dawes Glacier! Where the ice was melting from the glacier into the ocean, it changed the color of the water where they met, it amazing. Tracy Arm is a fjord in Alaska near Juneau (outlet at 57 46' 40" N 133 37' 0" W). If you've gotten this far up the coast that you're in Alaska - just find a way to get to see Southern Sawyer from the water. Saw the glacier from a cruise ship. Yes thats good to hear there is nice scenery at icy straight point. While many Alaska cruise itineraries include a stop in famed Glacier Bay, a National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, not all do, as the park service limits the number of ships that sail there each year. Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching & Mendenhall Juneau's Premier Whale Watching! A must visit.The colours the landscape is simply amazing.The place has a dream like quality. It provided a backdrop for some great group shots. Passengers are not allowed to get in smaller skiffs. I will do that tomorrow. We have our choice of 2 ships, the Regal Princess or the Emerald Princess. There are two parts to this glacier and we saw both. If you are trying to decide which Alaska itinerary is right for you, read on for our comparison of Glacier Bay vs. Sawyer Glacier. The Dawes is a very striking glacier with deep dark stripes down the center. - Alaska - Cruise Critic Community Please Read: COVID-related Discussion Sawyer or Dawes Glacier? If you are a resident of another country or region, please select the appropriate version of Tripadvisor for your country or region in the drop-down menu. Then when we finally came within 500 meters of the Dawes Glacier, the bluish color of the ice was beautiful. Required fields are marked *. Dawes Glacier Review of Sawyer Glacier Reviewed January 2, 2019 Was able to travel with Allen Marine from our cruise ship to get an up close view of this beauty! Climate Denial Crock of the week Blog br> read more, Our cruise ship, Jewel of the Seas, chose to go up the Endicott Arm (just south of Tracy Arm) to the Dawes Glacier instead of taking Tracy Arm to the Sawyer glacier because of fog and it was breathtaking! We were lucky to get so close considering it was a large cruise Its immense beauty and phenomenal blue hues are enchanting, even from a distance. I've. Yes, I have often studied the maps. Powered by Invision Community. Broughton Archipelago (Whales and Totems), Gulf Islands National Park and Salish Sea. As icebergs are reduced harbor seals will be disappointed as they prefer icebergs to haul out on. In the Area. Copyright 19952023 The Independent Traveler, Inc. The 2007 Hydrographic map of the area indicates water depth at the calving front still over 100 m, with a depth of 150 m 1 km down fjord of the terminus (see bottom image). The colors of the ice in the glacier are a wonderful blue when the light is good. Dawes Glacier, Endicott Arm, showing retreat. Dawes is straight in through a short wide bay. Read our, Recommended experiences in and around Juneau. . Hubbard is Magnificent! This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of English in the United States. Truly Amazing! The peacefulness of the water or the roar of the ice as it falls. Great pictures again! more, This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Big glacier face, big vistas and big icebergs Cons: Open, not fjord experience. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Arctic Sea Ice Blog br> Review tags are currently only available for English language reviews. 19952023, The Independent Traveler, Inc. Q&A: Cruise Insurance with Steve Dasseos of the TripInsuranceStore.com - Summer Session '23, ANNOUNCEMENT: Regent Seven Seas Cruises 2025-2026 Voyage Collection Debut. Cruise ships often send smaller excursion boats out to get a closer look at Sawyer Glacier. This reduction will reduce calving and iceberg production. Cruise Radio provides the latest cruise line news and updates from the cruise industry. (2007) find a volume loss rate between 1961 and 2000 of around 1.1 km 3 yr 1 (their Figure 8), which is about . March 26, 2021 shares Alaska cruises are filled with spectacular scenery and memorable experiences. There are two parts to this glacier and we saw both. But when you switch from map view to satellite view (a more recent image), you can see that Swell is in the water. There are some stagnant ice cored moraine areas between the 2013 terminus and the lake. Words and pictures cannot describe the beauty and the quiet I experienced. If your ship will be entering the fjord in the early morning, youll want to make sure you set an alarm so you dont accidentally oversleep and miss all the beauty it has to offer. You can witness "calving" -- when a chunk of ice breaks off with a momentous crack -- and have a good chance of seeing wildlife, including whales, seals, sea lions and birds. Hubbard Glacier is huge but some say the experience is not as spectacular as Glacier Bay that may have more harbor seals on the floating ice. This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of English in the United States. The correspondence of retreat, thinning and acceleration suggests that frontal ablation and glacier velocities are an important factor controlling mass loss at the front of South Sawyer Glacier. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Red arrow 1985 terminus, yellow arrow 2020 terminus. We were able to get very close to the glacier. Trust me - it's worth it. In 2019 the snowline is at a record 1450-1500 m.This fragmentation of Dawes Glacier will continue, which leads to a reduced ice flux to the terminus reach. The view is simply out of this world . Skeptical Science br> Sawyer Glacier: Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier - Tracy Arm Fjord's Beautiful Neighbor - See 158 traveler reviews, 110 candid photos, and great deals for Juneau, AK, at Tripadvisor. The last picture is of Ford's Terror which cruise ships won't be able to see (I was in a small boat). We saw a lot of ice that had calved off, but didn't actually get to see the calving process. (I would go in may). Love Hubbard Glacier and ISP has great whale watching trips! The icebergs in the bay were every shade of blue with white frosting. It was a wondrous sight. The cruise line we used offered a small boat excursion to Dawes; we essentially tendered off the cruise ship, and took a slightly different route to and from Dawes rejoining the ship after it reached Juneau. We took the 8-hour boat ride out of Juneau and (If you're lucky, you'll see it calve, close up.). Endicott Arm is Plan B often when ships can't get into Tracy Arm. The mountains to either side, streams running down the mountains, seals swimming, sea lions sunning themselves on ice floats and of course the glacier itself. It is so quiet and peaceful and you can enjoy the surroundings as they should be. The ships normally do a full turn in the channel, allowing guests the opportunity to see everything. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7dfb8bf85ad23677 Located just 50 miles from Juneau, the narrow fjord of Endicott Arm is commonly traveled through on Alaska cruise itineraries. If weather permits, enjoy the splendor of the pristine, seldom-visited Endicott Arm , venture to the arctic-blue toes of the majestic tidewater Dawes Glacier and look for Arctic terns . If you've gotten this far up the coast that you're in Alaska - just find a way to get to see Southern Sawyer from the water. We saw it calve several times in the hour that the ship spent viewing it, and then the three-hour sail back to the bay down the fjord was spectacular, like something out of a Chinese landscape painting. latebuyer, November 13, 2022 in Alaska. There are two parts to this glacier and we saw both. What is our OP interested in doing or seeing? Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching & Mendenhall Juneau's Premier Whale Watching! Over 600 feet tall and around one mile broad, Dawes Glacier is a mighty remnant of an even bigger ice block that forged Endicott Arm Fjord thousands of years ago. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Then the view shifted across the intervening mountainside to reveal the Sawyer South Glacier. I was amazed at how wide the Glacier was from the view we had fro the ship! Copyright 19952023 The Independent Traveler, Inc. Amazing, Funny & Totally Awesome Cruise Photos. Dawes glacier is my least favorite glacier. Many on the ship did not realize we did not go down Tracy Arm to the Sawyer glacier and I see many of the photos and reviews here are actually of Endicott/Dawes. more, This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Learn about new cruise ship launches, itineraries, policies, and trends shaping the world of cruising. more, This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Visit was topped off by some calving ice! You will be able to leave a comment after signing in. Review tags are currently only available for English language reviews. Is an Alaska cruise on your bucket list, or have you already visited Dawes Glacier? McNabb et al (2014) reported a thinning of 62 m/year from 1985-2013. Regardless, guests will be able to enjoy the tranquil wilderness as the ship carefully maneuvers through the near-frigid waterway to the peak of the mighty fjord, to get a glimpse of impressive Dawes Glacier. Located approximately 50 miles southeast of Juneau, the Endicott Arm Fjord houses the impressive tidewater glacier, Dawes Glacier, at its head. I actually love ISP. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Visited Tracy Arm Fjord and the South Sawyer Glacier aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird. By 2020 Dawes Glacier has retreated 3.8 km since 1985, a rate of 105 m/year. Absolutely one of the biggest highlights of our trip to Southeast Alaska! Initial Sail Date: July 29. The whole journey to the glacier was amazing. Boundary Peak 74 Mountain, 6 miles east. I'm thinking the next cruise I do I'll go to tracy arm and Hubbard first and then my third cruise another year to dawes glacier and icy strait point. Small ships are also far likelier to bring you to Sawyer Glacier, at the end of the Tracy Arm fjord, instead. How will a reduction in icebergs affect this population overall? Just make sure you check on availability early on in your cruise or as soon as you book your trip, as these excursions tend to fill up pretty quickly. At both, you'll see sheer faces of blue ice climbing many feet up to the sky. I recommend getting up close to the glacier so you can see and hear the "calving" of the glacier. Absolutely breathtaking and so interesting to hear from the guide about the history of the area and its wildlife!