Ice Art in Le Conte Bay

June 9, 10

Try as we may, we have never been able to make it to the face of Le Conte Glacier ... but our efforts to do so have treated us to a visual delight that well compensates for never actually seeing the Glacier.

Le Conte Glacier is the southernmost tidewater glacier in the U.S. It flows into Frederick Sound, about 15 miles southeast of Petersburg. Our cruising speed, on average, is about 7 knots, which means it takes us about 2 hours to make it to Le Conte from Petersburg.

Interestingly, Le Conte is equally close to Wrangell, but is separated by Dry Strait, a stretch of mud flats that can only be traversed by small craft at a high tide. With a 7-foot draft, Engelenbak would never make it. So we travelled there from Petersburg.

More importantly, we made two tries at Le Conte ... and both days, never made it to the face of the glacier.

They say the face of the glacier collapsed about 10 years ago, spewing tons of ice into the fjord, making it truly hazardous to get by boat. The glacier is stable today, but calves frequently, so we still have never seen its face.

Nonetheless, following is a selection of photos from more than at least 100 shot, with so many shapes and forms of ice floating around us, but I will begin with the end result.

Woohooo .... a Glacial Cosmo!

We have a tradition when visiting glaciers .... and that is to pull up a piece of glacial ice from the back swim platform, and break it up later in the evening when we are at anchor for "glacial" cocktails. Nothing tastes better than a cocktail poured over ice that is thousands of years old!

Lora And Scott on the fore deck, taking it all in.

The beginning of the ice jam, which eventually kept us from going further to the face of the glacier.

Saving the best for last ... this could easily be a glass sculpture ... simply stunning.