Hi Steve, I appreciate your posts here.

We went to both Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay in August 2001. Tracy Arm is
definately a "convenient" way to visit a tidal glacier. You anchor in
an anchorage (forget the name) about 20 miles from the glacier then
make a day trip up to Sawyer Glacier. The trip up to Sawyer Glacier is
beautiful, but a long day (there and back) if you do 5 knots like we
do. We saw one cruise ship in Tracy Arm the one day we were there.
Lots of pleasure boats.

We spent the maximum allowable 7 days in Glacier Bay. Glacier Bay is
less "convenient" in that it is father north and farther away from
civilization. As another poster mentioned, you need a permit (during
prime season) and must check in at the Barlett Cove ranger station.
They only allow a certain amount of boats (about 50 if I remember
correctly) in Glacier Bay at a time. During our seven days in the bay
we saw one or two cruise ships and maybe two other pleasure boats. It
was a great sense of isolation. Glacier Bay is a big area and if you
have a slow cruising speed like us, it takes a while to get around. I
think they also have speed restrictions if I remember correctly. It
rained 1 - 3" every day we were in the Bay (late August). Bring your
foulies. Only on a few occassions did it clear enough to see much of
the surroundings. I never got to see Mt. Fairweather, which was a
bummer. Highlight of our Glacier Bay trip was anchoring in Reid Inlet,
near Reid Glacier and having glacier margaritas. Reid Inlet was an
awesome place... where you can really see nature at work. Highly
recommend Reid Inlet and Glacier. Course that was one of the few days
that was marginally clear, so that and the margaritas might have
impact my opinion/recollection;-)

Best-Tim
s/v Patience
http://www.tgw.net