July 06, 2019 - Le Conte Glacier

Today is a big day.  We are heading to Le Conte Glacier to check out a tidewater glacier, and hopefully lots of icebergs floating in Le Conte Bay.  The entrance is tricky, and the main guide book for SE Alaska strongly discourages peoplefrom attempting to see this glacier (except for locals with intimate knowledge of the entrance).  We have a friend that has been in here a dozen times and he was kind enough to send me his tracks from the navigation program we both use (Coastal Explorer).  So, I have a dozen trips documented with pinpoint accuracy.  Not much chance of running aground with information like this!

We pull the anchor after a small breakfast and make the hour long trip over to the entrance.  There are a couple of small fishing boats nearby, but no signs of other boats headed this way.

The first chunks of ice appear

As we get closer, the ice chunks grow in size and frequency.  Soon, we are surrounded by chunks of ice.  This is exciting!  We negotiate the tricky entrance, and have to deviate course a few times to go around house sized icebergs.  Wow!  Once through the challenging entrance it gets easy, with water depths in the 300'-400 range, compared to 20' at the entrance.  At low tide the entrance gets choked with icebergs grounded in the shallow water.  The winds are light and the sun is out.  There is a haze in the air, but it is much less so within Le Conte Bay.

The ice forms interesting shapes

Some pieces are huge

Every piece is interesting.  Great waterfall in the background.

This one is clear, much different than most of the others.

Awesome formations

We negotiate about 5-6 miles of icebergs and bergy bits.  As we turn the last corner the Glacier comes into view.  Finally we get to see the source of all this ice.

Finally the glacier is in sight.  The wind is now blowing 25 knots.

The ice is getting pretty thick.  It doesn't really show up but there are lots of
little bergy bits all over the place.  You don't want to get them in your props.
We have gone as far as I dare.

Close-up of the glacier's face.  We never saw it calving, unfortunately.

After floating here in awe for about 40 minutes we turn around and start making our way back down the bay.  Just as we about to turn away a small bergy bit drifts close to the swimstep.  I run to grab it so we can break off a few chunks for drinks later.  We get a few nice pieces of ancient glacier ice.  It will be perfect for the nice bottle of Scotch Alex bough for just this purpose.

Alex, Le Conte Bay, AK

And captain Steve

As we get a few miles away from the glacier the winds die off.  Down to just a few knots.  We decide we can probably attempt a drone flight.  We head towards the largest iceberg we can see.  It's pretty large and looks very stable.  We get the boat close and launch the drone to get some unique pictures.

Adagio floating in front of a nice iceberg.

Overhead view of the iceberg.  It's quite large.

As we are leaving I decided it's time to touch the anchor to the glacier.  I turn and ease the bow of Adagio up to the glacier.  Wow, this thing looks huge now.  Each of takes a turn touching the iceberg.  How exciting!

Kevin touching the iceberg

Paulo's turn

Paulo, Alex, and Steve

Alex, bare feet on the iceberg.

We continue our journey back to the real world, marveling at the beauty of this place.  Some of the ice is so blue that it doesn't look real.

Look the color of this berg.  Spectacular

One last drone picture as we negotiate the bergs
on our way out the shallow entrance.

What a day!  This is an experience you just can't get outside of Alaska (at least in the part of the globe).  Le Conte Glacier is the southernmost tidewater glacier in Alaska.  Truly a memorable experience.  I am so happy that we got to share it with Alex and Paulo before they leave in a few days.