Elfin Cove – Bartlett Cove, Glacier Bay National Park – June 5

After a leisurely morning we follow Gold Dust out of Elfin Cove and through South Inian Pass.  Jay’s timing was perfect and we reach the pass at slack.  The last two days have been stormy with gale force winds on the coast.  We are surprised to find placid water from Cross Sound through South Inian Pass and into Icy Strait.  Jay radios us to say he has heard there is choppy water ahead and he had decided to pass below Lemsurier Island to take the weather on his quarter.  We continue to follow his lead but don’t find rough waters.  We radio in as we near GBNP and get permission to anchor in Bartlett Cove this afternoon.  Cousin Floyd is in Mud Bay picking up passengers, hears us on the radio and hails us.  Imagine finding someone you know in the middle of nowhere!

There are very few facilities at Glacier Bay – the lodge has 48 rooms and a restaurant.  There is a kayak shed with a dozen kayaks available for guided tours of the bay and bicycles available for rent to use on fewer than 12 miles of roads.  The park can accessed from Gustavus (a small hamlet with an airport that is 10 miles away) or by boat.  Large cruise ships are regular visitors to the park but since there is no cruise ship dock, passengers cannot debark.  Interestingly, National Park Rangers take a small boat out to meet the cruise ships to provide programs.  The rangers must climb a ladder up the side of the ship to gain entry.  Smaller commercial boats come and go from the main dock.

We enter Glacier Bay and find secure anchorage in Bartlett Cove.  We drop the dinghy and make our way to the main dock where we tie up for the remainder of the afternoon and evening.  We attend the mandatory boater orientation course and then head to the lodge.   We discover that there is marginal internet service and NO cell service.  There is one landline in the lobby that can be used with a phone card and we are sorry to see two kayakers trying to make arrangements to fly home for an emergency  There trip to Glacier NP has been cut short and there is no easy way to get from here to Los Angeles.  It really does feel like an altogether separate world.

We read, walk outside to see a porcupine (Barrie’s first in the wild), tour the small museum, watch a movie about the park and have dinner in the restaurant. 
After dinner we listen to a ranger talk before returning to Chug for the night and stowing the dinghy.

The Clan House pictured above will open at Bartlett Cove in 2016.  We saw the Tlingit carvers working on the panels and totems when we were in Hoonah.