LeConte Glacier - 15 miles from Petersburg
After a fun rest, cleaning, laundry, dining, and hiking, we left for the tidal glacier near Petersburg. LeConte is the southernmost tidal glacier in the Northern Hempishere. Only small research-like tour boats get into it, no cruise ships. After asking around we knew Iolair could do it. We crossed the sound and after an hour we were picking our way through the ice flow and small icebergs. Even the small blocks of ice are so dense and heavy they can scrap the paint of the bottom of the boat. The sun was shining, the temperature was dropping, and we were the only boat in the Leconte Bay. Slowly, we worked our way toward the glacier face. LeConte is famous for shooters. The glacier is very tall, and large portions of ice break off underway and shoot up to the surface suddenly. We never got that close; the ice field was just too thick, so we abandoned our approach around the bend from the glacier's face. We did watch smaller icy bits roll over as Iolair's wake disturbed them. Afte...
