We began our trip in an extraordinary place: Tracy Arm. Southeast Alaska is a fjord-rent land, but even here Tracy Arm stands out. Through many thousands of years of relentless grinding, glaciers have cut a valley out of solid granite. Steep cliffs plunge hundreds of feet, from the frigid and airy abode of mountain goats to murky depths where lurk sleeper sharks, colossal, green-eyed, and mysterious.

At the end of Tracy Arm we encountered milky water and icebergs, both hallmarks of tidewater glaciers. Rain was steady, but the clouds served only to accentuate the ethereal blue of the ice.

We launched Zodiacs, seeking closer interaction with this grand landscape. Once away, we heard the applause of many cascades gushing down granite cliffs. We also heard the tinkle of bergy bits: air bubbles in the ice, pressurized by the weight of the glacier, pop with a combined fizzle called "bergy seltzer" or "ice crispies". But best of all was the sound of the glacier, which dropped huge icebergs with astonishing regularity. Seals, bergs, and Zodiacs rocked together in the great swells produced by falling ice, and deep rumbling filled the air with white thunder!