2025-07-15 Glacier Bay Trip: Into the Bay

Private motor vessels entering Glacier Bay from June 1 - August 31 must have a permit. When I visited GB in 2010 and again in 2017 the procedure for obtaining the permit was the same as it was to rent a USFS cabin. Six months prior to your desired entry date you were allowed to apply for the permit. Now however, they have changed the process, and it is a lottery-based system. I submitted my application in January for a July 17th entry date and in February I received notification that my application was successful, and I was issued a permit.

In order to avoid congestion and overcrowding in GB they limit the number of private vessels that are in the Bay to no more than 25 on any given day. They issue the permits like mine ahead of time, but they also retain a small number of permits for the vessels that are in the area and want to enter.

Traveling on a small boat is not like traveling by plane where schedules and timing are exact and precise. Small boats are guided by weather primarily, and many times we cannot predict exactly what day we will be in a certain location. So sometimes boats find themselves nearby to GB and so they call and request a permit at that time.

Only 2 cruise ships are allowed inside the Bay at any given time. They do not linger and only run up into the West Arm to see the glaciers and the ice before they turn around and head out.

Jos and I had run the boat up from Ketchikan and had been waiting in Statter Harbor in Auke Bay for a couple of days. On July 15th my daughter Jennifer, and my grandson Hayden, and Hayden's playmate Aiden, flew in to meet us there. Aiden is Jos's grandson. Hayden and Aiden are both 10 years old.

From left to right, Jos, Aiden, Hayden, and Jennifer.

In order to support the crew for the several days we would be in GB we needed supplies. Jennifer enlisted the aid of a family member who lives in Juneau, and we secured a ride to a nearby Fred Meyer. Jennifer was in charge of meal planning, and so she ran the show on picking out the groceries and other related supplies that we would need.

Jennifer was also in charge of figuring out how and where to store all these supplies on my relatively small boat. I normally don't allow the shower stall to be used for storage as I like to keep it open and available for use. However, in this case I made an exception. We bought 3 small plastic tubs with lids and we used the shower stall as an extension of the cupboards in my tiny galley. Jennifer did an amazing job stowing all these groceries.

We have just a couple of small cupboards above the counter in the galley. Jennifer managed to stuff them completely full.

No space was sacred, and even the microwave became a storage space.

I work very hard to keep the shower open and available for use, but on this trip we used it for a pantry for additional food supplies.

We also had a cooler on the back deck that was filled with ice and with food that needed to be kept cold. The refrigerator on board is woefully small and is really only intended for very short trips.

Immediately after the 2 boys arrived at the boat they wanted to go "dock fishing." I rigged up a couple of rods for them and before long Hayden had something on. To everyone's surprise, he brought up a small King Crab. He had quite an audience gathered around by the time he got it up onto the dock.

On July 16th, the day before our entry date, we were up early and everyone was excited to get going. Our permit allowed us to enter the park boundaries at 1 minute past midnight on the 16th, but of course we were not going to do that. So, our plan was to get very close to the entrance on the 16th so that fairly early in the day on the 17th we could actually enter the Bay.

Here are 2 map snippets that roughly show our track from Auke Bay around to an anchorage near Pleasant Island that was only about 10 miles from the entrance to Glacier Bay. Here is the first one.

And here is the second one that shows us going into an anchorage near Pleasant Island.

In the far upper left of this map snippet you can just see the little village of Gustavus Alaska. It is about 10 miles by road from Gustavus to Bartlett Cove, which is the entry point into GB. Gustavus has a small dock and a small air field, but transient vessels like my own are not allowed to tie up to the dock. So, we anchored near Plesant Island for our last night before actually entering GB.

Of course, the boys wanted to launch the raft and go exploring, but we had to tell them no because it was actually blowing pretty hard in this area. We were anchored in a somewhat exposed location in very shallow water (about 25'). But, our anchor held well and we did not drag at all that night.

My boat is fairly small so sleeping arrangements for this leg of our adventure were somewhat tight. Jennifer and Hayden slept up in the forward berth. Jos and Aiden slept in the main cabin on the couch which opened up into a double bed. Opening the couch into a double bed is quite the experience, and of course, once they did that, no one could use the main cabin anymore. I slept on the port side bench seat on the flybridge. It was like having my own private bedroom up there and I did not mind it at all; in fact, I quite enjoyed it.

In the mornings no one could enter or use the main cabin until Jos and Aiden had reconfigured the cabin for daytime use. Jennifer took a time-lapse video of the process required to turn the couch into a double bed.

After doing it a number of times they got pretty efficient at it!

On the morning of our entry date we were up early. Jos and I pulled the anchor and we were underway shortly before 6 AM. The park service requires private vessel operators to stop at Bartlett Cove and attend a short orientation before heading up into the Bay. Here is our track from our anchorage at Pleasant Island and into Bartlett Cove.

Here is the whole crew again at the dock at Bartlett Cove.

This is one of the very few photos that I am in.

Here is a poster that they had down on the dock at Bartlett Cove.

The whole crew attended the orientation which was hosted by a young man from the Forest Service.

He showed a short video and then explained many of the rules, regulations and policies that must be followed when you are inside GB.

There are many rules regarding how far you must stay away from whales, sea lions, and other sea critters that might be encountered in the Bay.

When I was last here in 2017 Glacier Bay Lodge offered showers, but apparently, they don't offer that service anymore. The Visitor Center also has a shower facility but unfortunately it was being rebuilt when we were there. So, sadly, no showers for the crew before entering the Bay.

One might ask, why not shower on the boat? Yes, of course that was possible. However, on a trip like this freshwater is a limited resource. My boat only carries 70 gallons, and I also had three 7-gallon jugs of freshwater aboard. But it was hard to estimate how much would be needed for cooking, washing dishes, washing hands, and brushing teeth, etc. So, the captain, that's me, issued a no showering on board rule for this part of the adventure.

When we left Bartlett Cove, we headed for South Marble Island. There is a colony of sea lions there that numbers in the hundreds, I'm sure. We cruised slowly past while everyone got photos and videos.

I wonder if the higher up they are on the rocks is any indication of their rank within the colony?

There are only certain areas withing the Bay where small vessels like mine can safely anchor. We headed to North Sandy Cove for our first night in the Bay.

Of course, the first thing the boys wanted to do was to go out in the raft, so I set about deploying it as quickly as I could. While I was on the swim step working on deploying the raft a few Orcas (Killer Whales) swam by. During our brief stay here, we saw several whales come into the entrance to the cove, but most did not come all the way back inside.

There was a sailboat already anchored when we came into the cove, but once the boys started bombing around in the raft the sailboat hauled anchor and left. I am not sure if we scared them away or if they had planned to leave anyway.

Here are the boys in the raft in North Sandy Cove.

The raft got a lot of use on this trip!

Here are some scenic shots of North Sandy Cove.

It was a nice quiet spot to spend our first night inside the Bay. I was quite surprised that we had it all to ourselves, but no other boats came in while we were there.

We had a quiet night on the anchor.

The next day we had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out into the Bay. Our first stop was to try some bottom fishing. Here's a map snippet that shows North Sandy Cove where we anchored, and Sturgess Island, where we did our bottom fishing.

I dropped our spare bottom fishing anchor in order to fish here. When we first arrived, there was a brisk breeze blowing through and we could not stay in one spot without anchoring.

Aiden brought up a sea cucumber, not what we were after.

Not long after that Hayden felt a tug on his line and with help from myself and Jos managed to land a fairly respectable halibut, his first!

When we were done fishing, I decided to head up into East Arm to explore that area. The ranger at our orientation said that most boats and the cruise ships only go up the West Arm, but that there are several glaciers up in the East Arm. It turned out to be kind of waste of time and fuel. There are indeed several glaciers up that arm, but they don't come down to meet the salt water, so they are not as visible and not as impressive as the ones in the West Arm. But I got some scenic shots along the way as it is indeed a very beautiful area.

Here is a map snippet that shows where we left our fishing spot and then headed up into East Arm.

Here are scenic shots of East Arm.

There are a lot of sea otters in the Bay, something which we do not see around my home waters near Ketchikan. Sometimes we would see just one or two together, and sometimes there were quite a few hanging out in large groups. We ran into this bunch on our trip up into the East Arm.

After spending most of the rest of the day venturing up into East Arm we eventually turned back and headed to our second night on the anchor. We went to a place called Blue Mouse Cove.

Here is a map snippet that shows our approximate track from the northern portion of East Arm down to Blue Mouse Cove. Blue Mouse Cove is one of the more popular anchorages inside GB.

And here's a more detailed view of Blue Mouse Cove itself, with a blue "X" which shows the approximate spot where we dropped anchor.

There were a couple other boats in the cove that night, but it is a large area, and we did not feel crowded at all.

Of course, we had to have some fresh halibut for dinner this evening! There's nothing better than fresh halibut that has never been frozen. I do not have an oven aboard Faraway so I could not prepare it the way I normally would. I cooked it on the Foreman Grill, and it was excellent.

And also of course, the boys had to make numerous trips in the raft. We discovered that once they depleted the battery in the electric Torqeedo motor they seemed to enjoy it just as much to go out in the raft using just the oars. I have a set of FRS (Family Radio Service) radios and when they would go out in the raft, we made sure they had one so that we could easily communicate with them.

Here are a few scenic shots of Blue Mouse Cove.

The next day was "Ice Day."

We were headed up into the West Arm which is where most of the clearly visible glaciers are.

The weather started off sort of "iffy" but soon it turned into a spectacular day to be out on the water.

Here is a map snippet that shows our approximate track for the day. We headed North up into the West Arm. That little jog is when we poked our nose into Reid Inlet to take a look at Reid Glacier. I had thought we might stay they night there but there were other boats in there and it was very cold and breezy in there, so we did not.

On this day we saw Reid Glacier, Marjorie Glacier & Grand Pacific Glacier. They all come down to the salt water.

I don't think the two 10-year-olds were terribly impressed with the glaciers themselves, but they were impressed with the huge amount of ice that was in the water all around us. We gave them each a salmon landing net and then I maneuvered the boat near the smaller chunks so that they could scoop them up in their nets. Our cooler was desperate for new ice so in addition to providing entertainment for them, we also resupplied our cooler with much needed new ice.

The glacier ice is not like ice you buy from the store. Glacier ice is highly compressed and lasts a very long time.

Here is a photo dump of shots taken from our visit to the West Arm.

Once we went as far North as I wanted to, we turned around and headed back south. I once again ducked into Reid Inlet thinking perhaps, we might stay the night there. But the winds were blowing in there and it was cold and very uninviting, so we moved on.

We ended up going back into Blue Mouse Cove, but this time we went over to the other side and anchored. There were a couple of other boats in the area but they weren't close enough to be any problem for us.

There were also some people camping on the beach not far from our anchorage. We could see them moving around their campsite.

Of course, the boys went out in the raft as it was glassy calm in there.

One of the highlights of our trip happened later in the evening, just before dark. A brown bear came out of the woods and loped along the shoreline in plain view long enough for us to get photos and videos.

This was to be our last night actually inside the Bay as the decision was made to exit GB the next day. Here is our approximate track from Blue Mouse Cove back to Bartlett Cove, which was the first leg we traveled that day.

Park officials do not require private vessels to "check out" at Bartlett Cove but I wanted to stop in there to refill our water tanks and take on some fuel. Glacier Bay Lodge, a private for-profit enterprise, operates a fuel dock there. The prices are not great, so I only took on about 50 gallons, enough to get us back to Statter Harbor in Auke Bay without any fuel problems.

Here is a map snippet that shows the second leg of travel on this day which took us from Bartlett Cove through Icy Strait and partway up Lynn Canal to a little place called Funter Bay. There are a couple of public docks in Funter Bay, and we were fortunate enough to find an open spot at one of them.

Here's a more detailed look at Funter Bay. The public docks don't show on this navigational chart but I placed a blue "X" in the approximate location of the dock where we tied up.

Of course, the boys took the raft out and also did some fishing from the dock. Technically I should refer to it as a "float" not a "dock" since there was no ramp to shore.

Apparently, none of us took any photos while we were there. I think we were all a little tired at this point.

Here is a map snippet that shows the final leg of this part of our adventure, a northerly run up Lynn Canal, and then over the top of Mansfield Peninsula and then back south and around to Auke Bay.

We did a lot of cruising on this boating adventure.

That put us back in Statter Harbor in Auke Bay, and the second part of our grand Glacier Bay adventure was now complete.

Now it was time for a crew change and the final leg of this 3-part adventure.