Barry Arm and Harriman Fiord

Position  N  61 d 04.21  At the entrance to College Fiord
         W 147 d 56.49

The sunny weather is no more.  Or at least it seems that way.  We had rain and fog/smog for the past week and the forecast is declaring rain for the next few days.  Yesterday however it looked like we might have a bit of a respite so we set off early to try our luck making it to Harriman Fiord.  The warm temperatures have left us and with the dampness in the air it felt cold.  But the visibility was holding.  Just after we crossed into Harriman we snapped one of those really nice pictures that still doesn't do it justice, of the three glaciers behind us, Cascade, Barry and Coxe.  Harriman Fiord is truly gorgeous and hard for most to see.  Far from the beaten path and only available to tourist by two tour boats or via kayak tours, we shared the fiord for nearly five hours with only mother nature and a campsite of people using six kayaks.  We didn't see the people but did count the kayaks.  They were probably hiking inland.

Harriman Fiord is beautiful with numerous large glacier fed waterfalls, abundant greenery and of course glaciers and ice.  Luckily the ice was not thick and we made it all the way to the base of Harriman Glacier.  This is the widest glacier we have seen but was not that active.  As we turned around the rain got heavier and it seemed like the fog was chasing us out so we uped the engine revs and we wanted to sneak in closer to Surprise Glacier which was responsible for almost all of the the ice we were dodging.  Just as we got in we witnessed the biggest calving either of us had ever seen.  It threw up a series of huge splashes and some large waves, not to mention the resounding thunder-like noise.  But soon the fog was around us and off we head to try and get over the moraine that separates Harriman from Barry Arm.  This moraine was where the glacier face stood in 1898 but now Barry Glacier has receded 10 miles back making the fiord what it is.  Crossing the moraine is not that bad but the water flowing over the the extreme shallows did threw us some whirl pools that swung us around a bit as we crossed over. 

 

Surprise Glacier

Some glacier fed waterfalls in Harriman Fiord

Harriman Glacier

Surprise Glacier, a little closer

Cascade, Barry and Coxe Glaciers (from left to right)

Though the weather was bad we had good views of whales spouting, a number of seals and probably the largest density of a sea otter colony we have yet seen.  But by the time we hit the anchorage it was time for some spaghetti bolognese Mark had whipped up and to turn on the heater.

a lot of sea otters floating in Barry Arm

The weather is supposed to be bad for the next couple of days so even though we are at the entrance to College Fiord, we are going to sit for a bit for a weather window before we proceed further to view Yale and Harvard Glaciers.  After those we will start heading to Valdez to reprovision a bit and get a good beer and a burger! before we do much more exploring.