Baird Glacier almost touches Thomas Bay. At one point it was
a tidewater glacier, but today it sits entirely on shore. It’s a neat place to
walk around, but difficult to access.
The area immediately in front of Baird Glacier is uncharted
and shoals rapidly. Since it’s filled with glacial silt, visibility is less
than six inches.
I brought the boat into 20 feet of water, dropped 100 feet
of anchor chain, and let the gusty winds set the anchor. The anchor set almost
instantly. With the anchor in 20 feet of water, the boat was in 65 feet.
At low tide mudflats extend for at least a mile from the
Baird Glacier. This presents a problem for dinghy landing. If you arrive at
high tide it’s easy to secure the dinghy, but carrying the dinghy for a long
distance over mudflats is just about impossible. Arriving at low tide means
hauling the dinghy up to the high tide line, equally impossible.
Instead I dropped off Brendan and Jordan and returned to the
boat. When they called on the radio I’d pick them up. Much easier than trying
to stash the dinghy somewhere for a couple hours…
After they returned from exploring Baird Glacier we took off
for Portage Bay. Portage Bay is one of the easiest anchorages in SE
Alaska…huge, relatively shallow, well protected.
 |
| Sunset in Portage Bay |
27.25 nm today
991.32 nm total
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