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. After we scrapped a couple, we turned around. After all, we had just spent serious boat dollars on new bottom paint. Another small boat from Petersburg showed up. They pushed a bit further, moving the ice out of the way. They hoped to make the corner and see the face. We drifted for a hour with the motor off. Enjoying the sunny, windless day surrounded by icy bits. Our treasure from the trip was two very very large ice cubes in our cooler - glacier cocktails for days to come! Not sure if the other boat made it to the end, but we did eventually see them return to Petersburg a few hours behind us. 

Full sail on the way back - close hauled sails, sloppy, step waves, 17-20 knots of wind on the nose. Add to that the constant dodging of 7 whales, feeding along our route back to Petersburg.