This morning we enjoyed ice tours of the large and small pieces of ice that have been calving from the receding Le Conte Glacier. This glacier is the southernmost tidewater glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. We took the Zodiacs around the bay several miles from the face of the glacier. The different patterns in the ice were astounding and result primarily from the effect of seawater on the large icebergs. As the ice sits in the water the ocean acts like a warm bath to the ice and melts it away until it is unbalanced and must adjust itself. We watched as several growlers turned over or broke apart in the water.
The afternoon was spent in the town of Petersburg, where there was a chance to hike on a boardwalk along a muskeg or wander around the Scandinavian influenced fishing town. The afternoon was rainy but we all enjoyed the liquid sunshine of southeast Alaska.
