Wednesday, July 31, 2019

July 23, 2019 - Glacier Bay: East Arm and Hunter Cove


We spent this day enjoying the east arm of Glacier Bay.  Most all of the commercial boats go up the other arm so it was a quiet day.  We left early and let the kids sleep in since they would get to see everything on the way back down.  As we went north the weather was nice but it did change as we neared the very north end at Muir Glacier.  Rain set in, and the mountains became obscured by low clouds.

Riggs Glacier.  This used to touch the water.  Kathy once camped here overnight
after hiking up the rocky right side.  She also walked on this glacier.

Muddy Muir Glacier water meets clearer sea/glacier
water near Muir Glacier.
Muir Glacier.  It's another glacier that doesn't touch the ocean anymore.
 
On the way south from the arm, we decided to have Kathy stay on Adagio and let Steve and the kids go in to see McBride Glacier by dinghy.  You can no longer see McBride from Muir Inlet Channel and the waterway to the glacier it is too shallow for all but dinghies and kayaks.  Kathy kept Adagio "parked" out front while the dinghy exploration was going on.  There were quite a few icebergs beached and both Steve and Kathy remember how fun it was to walk around them.  Steve camped here via kayak over 30 years ago.  Back then the glacier was only a few hundred feet from the spit at the entrance.  Steve vividly remembers camping here, listening to the glacier creaking, groaning, and exploding with calving all night long.   That experience can no longer be duplicated, as the glacier is now miles away, and not even visible.

McBride Glacier.  Not many people see this one anymore since you have to go
several miles up an uncharted waterway.  It has retreated several miles since
Steve camped in front of this glacier 30+ years ago.












Adagio floating in front of McBride Glacier.  The glacier used to be visible from
here but has retreated several miles around the corner.

Weather changes here rapidly,  They entered in the rain and came out with the sun!


We anchored in Hunter cove, a fairly small cove on our way back down the east arm.  The weather was sunny and no other boats were here.  I am not sure we even saw a boat go by the entire evening.  We had dinner and then went to shore for a campfire.  There is finally some wood on the beach we can use to make a fire!  Strangely, with all the trees here in Glacier Bay, there is very little wood on the beaches and we have not been able to have a beach fire, until tonight.


Our campfire in Hunter Cove

Panorama in Hunter Cove

The whale we watched, and followed in our dinghy, that was eating in the cove

Monday, July 29, 2019

July 22, 2019 - Glacier Bay: Blue Mouse Cove

We woke up to a beautiful morning, sunny and clear so we decided to move further south and closer for a trip tomorrow up the east arm of Glacier Bay.  We decided on Blue Mouse Cove to do some kayaking. 

Beautiful morning in Glacier Bay

The mountains are spectacular, especially on a clear day

Large snowfield that is feeding several glaciers.


Once anchored, again by ourselves with no other boats, we got the kayaks down.  There are 23 other private vessels in Glacier Bay but we don’t seem to be seeing very many.  We have been storing two kayaks in the dinghy at the stern and two up on the boat deck so it has been easier and quick to get going.

We are happy to report that the steering repair was successful.  We have full control of the rudder and there are no leaks.  There is some air in the hydraulic lines so steering is not "linear", but it is fully functional.  Once we have internet again, Steve will get the bleeding instructions for our particular combination of hydraulic helms and the ram.

Portaging over a shallow spit, covered in mussels.
This is the real "muscle/mussel beach"

Getting back in the kayaks

Once on the other side of "mussel beach" we heard humpback whales.  We paddled around the corner and found 4 or 5 humpbacks spouting.  They were not too far away.  The kids arms were tired after paddling a few miles so they went to the beach to watch, while Kathy and Steve paddled out to get a closer look.

3 spouts at the same time.

4 humpback whales coming to the surface at the same time.

Kathy on the left, Steve on the right, a very large humpback whale in the middle


After watching the whales for at least half an hour, we began to paddle back.  On our way back we see many Oyster Catchers and Herons.  Mussel Beach has now been flooded (barely) by the rising tide.



Two red beaked oyster catchers

A large Heron

Kevin paddling over the now flooded mussel beach

Kevin gets a little game time in, back on the boat

Cindy does some SAT exam studying.  She takes the SAT as soon as we return
home.  Zappa is a great tutor, so she will do awesome on the test.

Two short videos of the whales....

Whales spouting


Whales spouting near Kathy and Steve




Sunday, July 28, 2019

July 21, 2019 - Glacier Bay: Margerie, Grand Pacific, Johns Hopkins & Lamplugh Glaciers



We planned this day to visit the glaciers in the west arm of Glacier Bay.  We can see much better today with no fog and a higher cloud ceiling.  Glaciers abound here and the mountains are beautiful. 

Once up close to the first glacier of the day, Margerie, the birds were covering many of the icebergs and flying around. 

Gulls on ice

Gull island
Watching the gulls, it seemed they were dipping their beaks into the silty water and pulling out some sort of worm.  They did this for a period of time and then they all quit, interesting.



Birds flying

Turning off the engines we were able to listen to the thunder and cracking of the glacier and see quite a few calvings.  We were the only boat here for at least an hour.  The other glacier up in the Tarr Inlet is Grand Pacific and it is so dirty, you can hardly tell it is a glacier.

Coming up to Margerie Glacier

Margerie Glacier
Calving at Margerie Glacier


Grand Pacific Glacier, yes there is ice under that dirt!

Next we motored back down Tarr Inlet.  We had timed it right so that we were the only boat up there floating and enjoying the experience.  We then turned and went to Johns Hopkins Inlet.  Again, we were blessed to be able to experience this glacier without other onlookers.  Johns Hopkins is one of the most active glaciers and here we had to keep moving to maintain our viewing spot.  A current of water runs out of the bottom of this glacier and moves the boat away quickly..


Cindy at Johns Hopkins Glacier

Kathy kayaking a bit closer to Johns Hopkins Glacier




Gilman to the left and Johns Hopkins Glacier ahead

the view by kayak

Adagio Crew in front of Johns Hopkins Glacier


After some time Steve started the engines and realized that there was no steering of the boat.  At this point we were at on of the furthest points away in our trip, literally.  We were ready to turn around and head south.  This is as far away from home as we intended to travel.  The steering worked for a turn or two and then suddenly the wheel had no resistance.  The rudder was now stuck at more than 20 degrees.  Steve took a quick trip to the flybridge and turned the wheel and got the rudder part way toward center before it too stopped working.  Same with the autopilot, a little closer to center, but then nothing.  Looking at both helms revealed no hydraulic leaks.  Same at the rudder and ram; no leaks.  There was still a little pressure in the reservoir and the fluid level was good.  Hmmmm….  Not a 5 minute fix for sure.  There were no other boats here to help, but there is a 200’ cruise ship arriving in about 20 minutes, according to AIS.  But, what can they do to help anyway?  With the rudder at about 4 degrees Steve managed to run the boat back through the icebergs by revving one motor then the other, and shifting one engine or the other into neutral.  It was enough to get back to Reid Harbor and set the anchor, a several hour trip.

Just before Reid Harbor was passed Lamplugh Glacier.  It too had some spectacular blue tones, and part of it still touches the ocean.  We saw a few small calvings here as well.

Lamplugh Glacier, said to be one of the bluest in Glacier Bay.
The splash from a small calving on the Lamplugh Glacier
Once back in Reid Harbor Steve pumped up the pressure in the reservoir and started turning the steering wheel.  Almost no response.  The wheel just spun and would freewheel for several seconds.  Not good.  Then Kathy yelled out “look at the window!”.  Oil was running down the outside of one of the pilothouse windows.  Steve knew instantly that a hydraulic line must of burst or a fitting had failed, up on the flybridge.  Under a piece of carpet, behind the flybridge helm, Steve found a ruptured rubber hydraulic hose.  Problem identified!   Now the question became “how do we fix this?” 


Hydraulic oil flowing down the outside of the pilothouse window
Steve pulled out his bin of hoses and found a few hydraulic hoses, but unfortunately they did not have the correct fittings, and none were long enough to replace the bad hose.  So, replacing the failed hose up here in Glacier Bay is not an option.  Steve pulled out several 5 gallon buckets full of bronze pipe fittings.  After rummaging through all the fittings for about 30 minutes Steve had gathered just enough parts to cap off the lines leading to the flybridge steering unit.  This would effectively plug the leak, but render the upper helm useless.  No big deal to lose the flybridge steering as we almost never use the upper helm.  Steve removed the 3 rubber hoses that connect to the upper helm and installed "caps" on the hard lines that connect to the lower helm.  He had to refill the reservoir which had dumped half a gallon of hydraulic fluid onto the flybridge floor, under the helm.  Then pump up the pressure in the reservoir.  After a few turns of the pilothouse house wheel the rudder was once again moving.  We will be able to continue our trip without any interruption.  Phew, that was a close call, as a boat without steering is not much of a boat.  It would have been a bit of a trip back to Juneau to get a new hose made, and a return visit to Juneau was not in our plans.

It certainly pays to carry lots of spare parts when you go boating in remote locations.  We had just enough parts onboard to fix this steering issue.  I will be adding hydraulic "plugs" to my shopping list for the next major town we encounter.  Replacing all of the rubber hydraulic hoses in the steering system is now at the top of my project list upon our return home.  I will also have a few spare hoses fabricated so I can replace any failed hose in the future.

Even with a potentially major failure onboard, we still had a wonderful day.  The glaciers were spectacular, as was the scenery.  The steering failure didn't really impact our day much other than spending about 2 hours once anchored repairing the problem.  The cleanup has been the worst part.  Steering fluid (ATF, actually) has been dripping down the outside of the pilothouse for several days and has been a mess to clean up.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

July 20, 2019 - Glacier Bay: Reid Inlet

We woke up to heavy fog again this morning.  Given this and that yesterday the fog really did not lift we changed our plans and decided to head up the west arm of Glacier Bay to Reid Inlet.  We were planning to go up the east arm but this would be a much better experience with no fog.  In the west arm we can anchor in Reid Inlet and go hike around Reid Glacier, which is no longer a tide water glacier.  Fog won’t be much of a factor for us at Reid Glacier.

There are over 9000 otters now in Glacier Bay when 20 years ago there were none.
They are so fun to watch
Tufted Puffin!
Beautiful Riggs Glacier

The fog lifted before we arrived and we were able to kayak to shore and drag our kayaks high up the beach so the rising tide could not carry them away.  After our hike up along the side of the glacier (Medial Moraine) where we found some incredible ice caves, we walked along the face of the glacier (Terminal Moraine).  The face of this glacier is now hundreds of yards from the ocean.  
                                            
Hiking up along the side of the glacier

Kevin on a rectangular boulder


This was the first ice cave with glistening blue ice

Going further up, MV Adagio out there in the bay to the right

Cindy holding up the ice

The glacier is dropping rocks onto this pile


really blue ice!
The blue just doesn't look real.  But it is.  Zoom in on this image to
really appreciate the intense colors.

Steve and Kathy - bluer than this looks


The kids ran back to our kayaks very far away and towed the extra two kayaks to the center of the face so we could paddle in the pools up at the glacier’s face.



The pool in front of the glacier

Yes touching the glacier, but no worries here!
Wider angle shot of us in front of the glacier

Coming back to Adagio