5 Aug 23

We woke from a sound sleep about 07:30. I’m feeling fine and Terri is better, so we decided to go for Dawes Glacier and Fords Terror. The anchor was weight at 08:53. We departed Tracy Arm Cove and went over the bar a few minutes later with 4.5 kn of current behind us; it was very turbulent after we passed over the bar and turned east toward Endicott Arm. Getting over the Endicott Bar against the ebb was a simple process and then we simply motored all the way to the other end to see the Dawes Glacier. The current was foul the whole way and the wind piped up against us the last 15 miles or so, although both the current and the wind helped on the way out. The “Seabourn Odyssey” was at rest at the head of the inlet about 2 miles from the glacier face, with all her tenders taking the tourists out for close looks at the glacier face. We motored on up to within about 0.5 mile of the face and then drifted for about 10 minutes with a 20 kn wind pushing us away. A few small bits of ice fell off while we were there, but nothing to write home about. Then, at 14:30, we had to be on our way to make it to the entry of Fords Terror by 17:40 so we could get through the rapids at HW slack. Since the wind was behind us, we hoisted the jib, shut off the engine and sailed past the “Seabourn Odyssey”; in your face, cruise ships. We made it to the entry with 35 minutes to spare; shame we did not wait a bit longer at the glacier. By 17:50, we were through the (now calm) rapids and motored on up into Fords Terror, which is even more spectacular than the Misty Fjords. Someone has said that Fords Terror is like Yosemite on a boat and that is a very apt description. Unfortunately, it is not as remote as we had hoped. Three other boats came in with us and we found that there was already at least one other boat anchored in the east arm of the inlet. Because of 40 miles of foul current, the trip took a bit longer altogether than expected and we wracked up an extra ten miles.

57-41.747’N, 133-11.121’W; Log = 60.2, Sum = 1947.2; Eng. hrs. = 10.0, Sum = 3421.5

6 Aug 23

Another fine day in the paradise of Fords Terror. We slept in until nearly 09:00 and got up to a lovely, sunny morning. Having already decided to stay all day at least, we loafed around the cockpit, catching up on the news and enjoying the warmth and the outstanding beauty of this inlet. We were able to watch the Astros beat the damn Yankees, to even the series at 2-2. About noon, I rowed over to my prawn trap to see what I had caught; 47 nice big fat prawns. We boiled these after lunch. Then, I spent an hour greasing up the bits of the anchor windlass that I could get to. We were both able to take piping hot solar showers after that; very nice. About 16:00, our anchorage buddy in the Nordic Tug 32 started getting his anchor up, so we decided to move to a more central location, nearer the waterfall and in somewhat shallower water. Unfortunately, while pulling up the anchor, the chain jammed in the hawse hole and then jumped off the gypsy when I paid out a bit. I was lucky to get it stopped before it all ran out. With 60 feet of chain plus the anchor still hanging, I could not pull it up by hand to get it back on the gypsy, but took the slack off of it by tying it off with the gybe-preventer line and tensioning up on it. With the chain in the well slack, I still could not get it on the gypsy, so had to hand-over-hand all the chain out of the well until I got to the rode, which will fit through the gap. We were then able to proceed. After the anchor was up, we moved over a few hundred feet and found a spot in on 22 m of water (compared to yesterdays 34 m) and deployed it successfully. After setting the anchor, it was Captain’s hour and I felt much better. We had some of the shrimp, with polenta, for dinner.

57-41.818’N, 133-11.045’W; Log = 0.1, Sum = 1947.3; Eng. hrs. = 0.6, Sum = 3422.1

7 Aug 23

It rained a bit in the early morning hours. When we got up at 08:00, we were all alone in the anchorage; our neighbors on the Grand Banks 44 had already left (presumably to make the 07:40 HW slack at the rapids. It was gloomy at the start, but the sun broke through from time to time starting about 10:00. We were able to take a brief walk ashore to check out the HUGE, house-sized rocks along the beach, then got back to the boat for a late lunch. It rained off and on throughout the afternoon. Terri cooked a lovely meal of salmon and potatoes, then we went to bed early, to be ready for an early start tomorrow morning. HW slack at Fords Terror rapids is at 07:43.