6/27/11
“Tracy Arm Cove,” Tracy Arm, AK
Miles Travelled: 54
What a glorious day. We were sad to leave Fords Terror, but our trip up Endicott arm to see the Dawes glacier couldn’t have been any more perfect. We had an early morning to get the low water slack out of Fords Terror, but amazingly, the boys didn’t wake up! Odin cried out in his sleep at about 10 minutes to 5:00, so he woke us instead of our alarm which was set to go off at 5:00. We started the engine and pulled 175’ of anchor chain, essentially right over them…in a steel boat that transmits that sound very well, and they kept sleeping. Amazing. It allowed both of us time to see all of the sights of Fords Terror on the way back out and marvel all over again. I took so many pictures, but none of them do it justice.
Once out in Endicott Arm, we hung a left and dodged ice bergs and bergy bits another 10 miles or so until we were able to get within a mile or so of the face of the glacier. During the transit the boys woke up and I got them breakfast while Tor piloted. After breakfast they happily played by themselves so I could run up and down the companionway ladder and get my fill of looking at the glacier and all of the different shapes of bergs and bergy bits. I also took tons of pictures…at one point Tor asked me if I was taking pictures of each and every bergy bit. I tried for sure! Tor pulled the requisite bergy bits out of the water so we can have ice in our scotch tonight. What a treat!
When the water became choked enough with ice that we felt we couldn’t go much further, we headed back the way we came. Amazingly we had the place completely to ourselves and only when we were headed back out to the entrance did we see a few sports fishing boats buzzing up to the glacier. I don’t think we will be that lucky in Glacier Bay, even with the limited number of boats they let in every day. We treasured our experience this morning at Dawes Glacier. Helen was on our minds, as were the rest of the Dawes family.
We got a healthy push out of Endicott Arm, and most of the time had an extra knot of boat speed, so we made great time out of Endicott Arm and into Holkam bay. We anchored in an unnamed cove at the entrance to Tracy Arm. There we got a feeling for how many boats head up Tracy Arm. We anchored in the cove, which is the only real anchorage in the area at about 2:30pm and were the only boat. By the time we settled in for the night, there were 6 other boats in the cove and it looks like all but one are going to head up Tracy arm tomorrow. We also saw a big cruise ship…the Amsterdam (one of the “big dam boats” as Dad and Lynn say) on its way out at the end of the day. We feel so fortunate to have had our experience in Endicott be as private as it was.
Tomorrow we plan to wake up at the normal time and head a little further north to Taku Harbor. We have made good time and at this point have a week to get to Glacier Bay. We are in good shape, we may even call the park when we get to Juneau to see if they have space and can move our permit up. If so, then we would have more time to get to Sitka. We’ll see what happens.
Fords Terror? The best!
Yep, I agree. Fords Terror is the best.
No wind makes for beautiful mirrored surface in Fords Terror
Waterfall on way out of Fords Terror
The Fords Terror narrows at slack water
Bergy Bit
Picking our way through the bits
Glacier Ho!
Harvesting a Bergy Bit
The Dawes Glacier
Seals hauled out on an ice berg, Endicott Arm
View of Sumdum Glacier from Endicott Arm
Big Ice Berg from Tracy Arm, note the red navigation buoy in the background. Apparently that one frequently gets knocked out of place by big ice bergs
Lars and Mama
Odin and Mama
No comments:
Post a Comment