Alaska 2016 | Day 33 | Tracy Arm Cove to Ford's Terror

Ford's Terror is my favorite anchorage on the coast. It's magnificently beautiful, for starters. Think Yosemite, minus the people. Waterfalls surround you, with snowcapped peaks and snow-filled bowls all around. Bears forage ashore. It's close to Dawes Glacier. And it's difficult to get to.

Getting into Ford's Terror requires dodging several uncharted shoals and then transiting a poorly understood and uncharted reversing tidal rapid. Here's a video that Jay, a C-Dory friend, shot coming out of Ford's Terror at the wrong time (skip to towards the end, and have the volume up).

Because Ford's Terror is difficult to access, it's seldom visited. It's not uncommon to have the anchorage to yourself for several days at a time.

We arrived a bit early and the water was still visibly flooding through the rapids. We idled around for 30 or 40 minutes, then, when the water looked still, everyone followed me through. Easy, and basically no current.

Heading into the rapid, Anna on the bow watching for rocks.

Through the rapids. Pretty good scenery.

Stunning in every direction

We motored to the west arm to anchor for the night. The anchorage is deep and steep-to. I dropped my anchor about 400 feet from shore in 140 feet of water, then backed towards shore. When it set, I was about 150 feet from shore in 90 feet of water.

Home for two nights

The weather has been perfect. Bright blue skies, warm temperatures, no rain. The only downside to the nice weather is the exposure to black flies...they can draw blood!

Once everyone was anchored, Anna and set off to explore the inlet by dinghy. We cruised the entire perimeter, marveling at the scale of Ford's Terror. The scenery totally dwarfs everything inside.

How to describe this place?

Pictures and words don't do it justice.

We went to the rapids while they were ebbing at about five knots. The flow of water was pretty smooth and the dinghy didn't have any trouble. The tide was dropping, and it was amazing how big the uncharted shoals just outside the entrance are.

Rapids at about 5 knots. No problem in the dinghy.

One of the shoals exposed

And another shoal, on the opposite side.

This is such a great spot, we'll spend two nights.

25.79 nm today
1039.17 nm total

Alaska 2016 | Day 32 | Pybus Bay (Cannery Cove) to Tracy Arm Cove

Mom and cub?

Bears! Finally! But I'm getting ahead of myself...

This morning was perfectly clear, warm even. Before leaving Cannery Cove, I took the drone up briefly to grab some pictures.

Cannery Cove, Pybus Bay

For those of us who aren't fishermen, I think the biggest reasons to come to Alaska are bears, whales, and glaciers. Today we got all three.

Humpback in Stephens Passage

Whenever I get close to whales, I like to shut off the engine and listen as they exhale and inhale. Their sound travels well over water and it's incredible how loud a whale breathing is, even from a distance.

A whale spout! 

The scenery along Stephens Passage is excellent, but as we neared Tracy Arm Cove it improved. Sumdum Glacier (a hanging glacier, not a tidewater glacier) was in full view.

Sumdum Glacier

The big surprise at Tracy Arm was how much ice was in the water. The cruise ships and tour boats were all heading up Endicott Arm, to Dawes Glacier. I spoke with a friend who I saw on AIS about halfway up Tracy Arm. He said the ice was too thick to reach Sawyer Glacier.

No problem getting into Tracy Arm Cove, though, where we were rewarded with our first good bear sightings of the trip. In the afternoon we spotted a grizzly on shore. A little later, these two came down to the beach to forage.

They spent a lot of time playing.

What's for dinner? Berries? Clams?

We watched from the dinghy, maybe 30 feet away. Periodically the bears looked up, stared at us, and went back to eating.

Hello!

As the day ended, the light became more dramatic, casting an orange glow on the nearby snowfields.

Sunset

As we watched the bears ashore, just a few feet away, this cruise ship motored out of Endicott Arm. I couldn't help but think how much wildlife these folks miss.

Did these passengers see the bears? What does a whale look like from 100 feet up?

I'd planned on heading into Tracy Arm tomorrow to check out North and South Sawyer Glacier. Given the amount of ice, though, we'll head for Ford's Terror in Endicott Arm instead.

41.2 nm today

1013.38 nm total

Alaska 2016 | Day 31 | Thomas Bay to Pybus Bay (Cannery Cove)

I'd originally planned on spending a night in Thomas Bay, the next in Portage Bay, and then Pybus Bay. Since we spent two nights in Thomas Bay, though, I opted to skip Portage Bay and head right for Pybus.

Stormy being chased by a rainbow in Thomas Bay.

The weather couldn't make up its mind today. A bit of rain, some sun, quite a bit of overcast. No wind, though. That's been a theme of our Alaska cruising so far.

Leaving Thomas Bay with Baird Glacier in the background.

We saw a lot of whales today (finally!), including one humpback that was breaching repeatedly. How does an 80,000 pound animal move so seemingly effortlessly? From a distance, the first thing you see is a massive curtain of water, thrown up when the whale reenters the water. If you're patient and lucky, you might catch the whale breaching again. Watching water stream off the barnacle-encrusted skin of a humpback is super cool. My pictures don't do it justice. 

Not a great picture, but it conveys the idea.

Most of the whales were just doing normal things. Every few dives they take a deeper drive, often showing their fluke (tail) as they head down.

Great whale watching in Frederick Sound

More whales

Cannery Cove in Pybus Bay is a favorite anchorage. The scenery is magnificent—mountains surround the southern shore, waterfalls plunge from snow-filled basins, meadows stretch out from shore. It's also an easy anchorage, reasonably shallow and large enough to hold as many boats as are likely to be there.

Pybus Bay on arrival

We arrived just as a squall came through. Soon, though, the sun reappeared and stuck around for the entire evening.

Stormy with the second rainbow of the day!

52.12 nm today

972.18 nm total