The following paper describes the design, implementation and simulation tests of an underwater glider (UWG) designed to monitor and study the Peruvian coastline. This UWG is developed in order to be a low cost measuring tool which will help to characterized the marine ecosystem and the impact that commercial activities and climate change are having upon it. An adaptive backstepping controller (ABC) is designed for the UWG which is capable of stabilizing the vehicle under the presence of unknown hydrodynamic coefficients. It is shown that the controlled can maintain a higher tracking precision, reducing the RMS error by 50% and improve the vehicle energy efficiency by 17%, by improving the vehicle response during transitions between downwards and upwards glides.