Reid Inlet to North Fingers Inlet Glacier Bay National Park – June 8

Awoke this morning early and had the anchor up by 5 am.  The winds were calm and the cloud cover was breaking up.  From Reid Inlet turned to port and headed north to Johns Hopkins Inlet.  The head of the inlet is closed to protect seal habitat but we are able to enter the first third of the inlet.  We see the tidewater Lamplugh Glacier on our starboard side and are soon joined by a Wilderness Adventure cruise ship.  They anchor in a small cove near the glacier and we continue around the bend to view the Johns Hopkins glacier from a distance.  Snowcapped mountains back the distant end of the inlet and the vista is inspiring.

We next travel up Tarr Inlet to reach Grand Pacific and Margerie glaciers.  This is the ultimate destination of many of the cruise ships (the “big money photo”) but we are here early and have the place to ourselves!  Amazingly the sun is out, the sky is blue and the cloud cover light!  We slowly navigated through the berg and berglets to the head of the glacier.  With Barrie holding the boat in place, I lowered my kayak into the water and took photos of Chug in front on Margerie Glacier.  It was a perfect setting.  With the kayak in the water, I also gathered a chunk of glacial ice before returning to Chug.  I stowed the kayak on the top deck and we picked our way through the ice to a small anchorage in view of the glaciers.  We dropped our anchor and ate lunch while drinking in the beauty and enormity of the wilderness.  With the engine off we also savor the silence. After spending almost 3 hours alone at the end of the inlet we began to work our way south to North Fingers Inlet.  When we entered Glacier Bay we talked to another pleasure boat who said they had seen bears and wolves and this location.  We saw a large black bear walking on the beach and swimming in the bay within a half an hour of our arrival.  A terrific way to end a perfect day.