More Fluenta and Ice (and Cruise Ships) - Glacier Bay

We left Lituya Bay after our day there to enjoy a nice calm overnight passage with a bit of light air sailing from all angles and then motoring in dead calm with the northern lights on display.  At one point we were gybing angles to keep the boat moving and were pointing towards French Polynesia but decided it was too early to head back yet (only 4600 nm away). We stopped at Bartlett Cove to clear into Glacier Bay (it is a National Park) but because it was mid September we no longer required a permit.  We used the ranger station's internet to catch up on some admin/logistic dramas, and motored in the glassy calm to Sandy Cove while the humpbacks and sea lions performed.


It was very beautiful but a bit of a shock after the more remote parts of Alaska further north. We had been in Glacier Bay for only an afternoon and had seen two 980' cruise ships, multiple tour boats and two megayachts (who ran their generators all night).


The next day we left Sandy Cove at 0600 to motor up to see Margerie and Grand Pacific Glacier. The wind was gusty from the north so we did not feel secure anchoring in Tarr Inlet therefore we left one adult loitering in Fluenta while kids and the other adult checked out the glacier. Margerie Glacier put on quite a show with massive chunks of ice collapsing into the water from 200' with thunderous splashes. There was quite a bit of ice in the water for the last two miles to the glacier. We arrived after the two massive cruise ships so we had it to ourselves for most of the time and then only later with one megayacht.  At one point we were 1.0 nm from the Canadian border. 

Liz leading us through the ice so we could get close to the glacier

Fluenta in front of Margerie Glacier

Boom - more glacier calving.  The glacier is over 200' high so this is a lot of ice and water.

The next day Fluenta was in a lot of photos.  We anchored for the day for a front row spot at Margerie Glacier as the ice was open enough to get to where the depth went from 400 to 30 feet. Two cruise ships (1080 to 950 feet long) and two tour boats (170 to 200 feet long) came along to sightsee as well so Fluenta will be part of their photos too. Luckily with the height and width of the glacier we were not blocking much of their view.

We get a front row seat ahead of the cruise ship.

There are a lot of people on the upper decks taking photos !

Anchor down in the glacial silt not from far from the glacier.

Picnic in the sun anchored watching the glacier calving.

You can see the cruise ship behind us while we brunch.

A rare family photo

and a rarer photo of the two of us.

Goodbye !

Small scale chart of our travels in Alaska.  The arrow shows Glacier Bay.

Glacier Bay.  1: The Ranger Station, 2: Reid Inlet where we normally anchored and did some hiking, 3: Margerie Glacier, and 4: Lituya Bay from the previous blog post

Anchored in front of the glacier while a tour boat and a cruise ship visit as well.