2019 Alaska Trip - Day 24 - Morning Beach Combing & Afternoon Boat Tour To LeConte Glacier, Wrangell, Alaska

Near the ferry dock in Wrangell is Petroglyph Beach, a beach known for numerous petroglyphs carved in the rocks. We saw it coming in on the ferry last night.

 

 

However, it’s also known to have lots of sea glass and great beach combing. Until about ten years ago or so, there was a city dump on the beach right around the corner, so glass from the dump has been tumbled and washed up on Petroglyph Beach.

Esther and Linda made a beeline to town first thing this morning.

They took a few pictures indicating they hit the “mother lode” of sea glass.

 

 

That kept them busy all morning, while I watched eagles and herons on our beach at the campground. Here's an adult with a juvenile below.

 

 

I also arranged for an afternoon boat tour to LeConte Glacier, an active glacier about an hour away that is known as the southern-most tidewater glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s also know as a birthing place for Harbor Seals, although that spectacle starts a couple weeks later in the year.

Originally, we were going to go with Alaska Waters on the glacier tour since they had a 2-for-1 coupon in our Alaska Tour Saver book, but they didn’t have enough people and cancelled for today.

So, I scrambled and we got a tour booked with Breakaway Adventures on a smaller boat …. and without the discount .... at $200 per person.

The ladies returned from beach combing quite happy, and determined to go back tomorrow morning. Then we loaded up and went back into town for our noon tour.

We joined our young, local guide, Spencer, and he ushered us to the Glacier Chaser, a small jet boat.

 

 

 

Once again, it was just the four of us on our private tour.

We ended up having to wait just a bit for the tide to come in. Otherwise we would have to take a long detour or risk grounding the boat.

Slowly, we passed by Petroglyph Beach and Spencer gave us the history of the dump that used to exist practically next door and the efforts to clean it up.

 

 

Heading over near the airport, Spencer showed us Deadman’s Island and told us the story of it.

 

 

Apparently, Chinese cannery workers used to store the bodies of their countrymen in a brine solution in barrels until they could be shipped back to China for burial. Well, that’s interesting …. and a bit creepy.

They scenery was stunning as we eventually crossed Dry Strait at the mouth of the Stikine River ....

 

 

and made our way north up to LeConte Bay.

Once near the bay, we could see icebergs in the distance. A few minutes later we were circling a large one.

 

 

 

We got some photos of our group before moving on.

 

 

 

There was a lot of ice, and I was concerned that we might be blocked from getting to the glacier.

 

 

But Spencer deftly handled the boat and snaked his way through the ice.

We stopped for seals on one of the ice flows.

 

 

The little one was extremely cute.

 

 

We’ve seen hundreds of seals, but there’s just something about seeing them on ice.

 

 

There were also several high waterfalls running, .....

 

 

and Spencer steered toward this gorgeous one.

 

 

He pulled right up to shore for that one.

 

 

Then we continued on among the gorgeous scenery.

 

 

 

We passed large icebergs, small icebergs, blue icebergs, and clear icebergs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spencer gave us the option of continuing to tool around the icebergs, or heading to the glacier. “Glacier!” was my response, but there were stunning landscapes all along the way.

 

 

We turned a corner and got our first glimpse of LeConte Glacier.

 

 

 

Spencer maneuvered us as close as he felt comfortable. And when the wind blew us away, he re-positioned us.

 

 

 

There was another great waterfall off to our left, ….

 

 

but our focus was on the massive glacier as we sat in silence listening and watching for chunks of ice to calve off.

We were lucky to witness several small calving events and got to hear the sharp cracking and the thunderous roar as the ice tumbled into the water. But it's really tough to time the calving and get it on video or in a photograph. I got a pretty good splash here.

 

 

 

And another one here.

 

 

We enjoyed having the glacier to ourselves for almost two hours.

The lighting changed numerous times and there were multiple colors, including the glacier blue everyone loves.

 

 

Before we left, Spencer picked up some chunks of ice.

 

 

He had a bag for us to take some home and put it in our freezers so we could chill our drinks with pure glacier ice.

On the way out, we took more pictures of the mountains, ….

 

 

the icebergs, and seals.

 

 

One last look back before we left LeConte Bay.

 

 

That was an amazing trip, and though we had seen calving glaciers before, we hadn’t been in a boat going through a maze of icebergs like that in our previous travels.

Two thumbs up to Spencer and Breakaway Adventures on that one.

Another fantastic day in Alaska. Until next time.

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Comments

[Susan Anderson]

WOW amazing photos!

Looks like a perfect weather day as well to be out on a boat near a glacier.

Did you notice the change in temperature as you got closer to the glacier?

So far it looks like another trip of a lifetime for you all.

[Janna]

I would say so--two thumbs up!!!

[Tracy Perkins]

What a fantastic day. Waterfalls, glaciers, seals, really special.