Adagio Cruising: July 19, 2019 - Glacier Bay - Bartlett Cove to North Sandy Island

Cruising Southeast Alaska has been a dream/goal of ours for a very long time. Although this trip will not occupy the entire summer (due to our kids school schedule), to be able to do this trip with our kids before they go on to their lives in college and beyond has been incredible.

This and the next several posts will be in Glacier Bay, our northern most point. Glacier Bay has memories for both Kathy and Steve. Kathy worked at the Glacier Bay Lodge for a summer 33 years ago, and Steve came for a two week kayak-camping trip 32 years ago. When we first met through work more than 5 years later, kayaking and Glacier Bay was mentioned on our first meeting and presented a common bond for us.

When we were here all those years ago there were no cruise ships or private boats in the bay, but even now there are only 24 private vessels in the bay in a given day, 2 large cruise ships (800ft+) along with a handful of smaller commercial tour vessels (100-200ft). Entry into the park requires a permit, which we obtained two months ago. You must attend an hour long orientation/safety presentation before you are allowed to enter. You can stay a maximum of 7 days/6 nights. You cannot just drive your boat into Glacier Bay and explore. Glacier Bay is part of the National Park system, and therefore drones are prohibited by Federal law. No drone pictures will be taken while we are in Glacier Bay. Glacier Bay National Park is very large, in fact it is about the same size as the state of Connecticut. There are more than 1000 glaciers within the park (95% of them are retreating), but most of them are up high in the mountains. Just a handful reach the ocean and are accessible by boat. The tide range here can reach 25’, requiring diligent attention when anchoring and transiting shallows.

After our boater orientation, we visited Glacier Bay Lodge and bought a few trinkets then headed over to the dorms where all the employees lived (including Kathy for a summer). Not much has changed, not sure I, Kathy, would want to stay there now. Although an older lady working in the gift shop said that she only had one roommate, where I had three roommates in a room smaller than a normal dorm room. She said they think the younger people can handle that, hahah. Not much has changed.

The front desk of Glacier Bay Lodge - not much has changed in 33 years!
Kathy used to be the one behind the counter greeting the arriving guests.

We walked along one of the trails with a nice boardwalk, not there long ago....

Bartlett Cove and dock with a National Geographic boat docked so we anchored, Adagio in the background

Boating plans change based on the weather, and the visibility in Glacier Bay this morning was minimal, so we decided to go to North Sandy Cove rather than move further north. On our way past several islands we see many otters, seals, sea lions, sea otters, birds, puffins, and several whales but not any mountains due to dense fog. In fact, a whale surfaced right in front of us and we quickly shifted into neutral, which was scary. It was a close call mostly due the reduced visibility in the quite dense fog.

On the way up to our anchorage, we went by a couple islands that are home to many birds and sea lions, what a spectacular sight.

South Marble Island with Sea Lions galore

one of the humpbacks on our way north

Two puffins swimming by, they would rather outrun the boat than fly!

After dropping the anchor we quickly put the kayaks in the water and went for a paddle. The tide is going up and this should fill a small channel with water allowing us to get to the other side of the island. The water was still not high enough for us to transit when we arrived, but the tides move so fast here that it was not long before we worked our way through to the bay on the other side of the island.