Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier is located approximately 50 miles southeast of Juneau. Breathtaking Endicott Arm extends over 30 miles long, with nearly one-fifth of its area covered in ice. What is most spectacular is the chunks of brash ice floating all along the entire fjord (a long, deep, and narrow body of water between tall cliffs created by the erosion of the retreating glacier) as the ship sails towards the Dawes Glacier, with the most concentration of them nearing the glacier. It was amazing to see how blue these ice formations were. Blue ice occurs when snow falls on a glacier, is compressed, and becomes part of the glacier. Air bubbles are squeezed out and ice crystals enlarge, making the ice appear blue. You can listen closely and hear the pops and snaps of air escaping the ice as it melted while gliding over the ripples of water created by our ship. At times this trip may be cancelled if the number of brash ice floating in the fjord are deemed too dangerous. Afterall what we see floating on water is less than half of what lurks below. In our case, our cruise ship stopped short of reaching the Dawes Glacier as ice formation in the area was too thick for our ship to travel through. However the journey itself was already breathtaking.
I have separated my pictures into two sections: 1) Icy mountain, 2) Floating brash ice.
Click on each picture to see the full view.
