Tracy Arm, with the 2 Sawyer Glaciers at its head, is one of the scenic highlights of SE Alaska and some consider it to be more stunning than Glacier Bay.

Once over the terminal moraine bar there are no real navigational challenges in reaching either of the 2 glaciers at the head of the Arm, other than avoiding the floating glacial ice which litters the Arm, but never in enough quantity to seriously impede navigation.

However, you should not cut the corner on  any of the blind bends or you could find yourself suddenly face to face with one of the 300m long cruise ships that make the journey to the top of the fjord. Whilst they transmit on AIS and make Securite broadcasts on VHF  the slab sided high rock walls on either side of the fjord mean you may not be able to receive either.

Both Sawyer Glaciers are in serious retreat and the snouts of both glaciers are over one nautical mile further inland than the position shown on our Navionics charts. We got to within 0.5 nm of the new snout position in both cases without anything registering on our echo sounder, and the local tourist boats were getting closer still 

Harbour Seals are abundant in the fjord and at the head of the southern Arm we saw over 200 of them resting on the many bergs coming off the glacier. The occasional bald eagle can also be seen using the ice as a resting place.