July 12, 2018 - Day 41: Fords Terror to Tracy Arm Cove (navigating through pack ice)

Miles covered: 26; Hours at the helm: 6 (4 hours in ice pack)

Highlights: a peaceful morning with a bit more rain, then clearing for our last views of Fords Terror, followed by our own twist of the original Fords Terror experience: trapped in pack ice and spending
most of the day navigating our way through ice.  We felt transformed to another world, or at least another part of the world (like Antarctica)!

Another big tidal change day: ranging from 19' high tide to a minus tide of -4.5'; for a total tidal change of 23.5' for the day.  When that much volume of water moves in and out of the channels, they can carry a lot with them, as we will see upon our exiting of Fords Terror...

Morning shore duty with Moxie once again reveals spectacular early morning views with Seaquel framed by massive boulders exposed at low tide...

Moxie enjoying her time on shore...


Regarding those big tidal changes: the "pyramid" rock below was completely covered underwater when we anchored yesterday.  Reading your charts, and scouting the area thoroughly to see what you may be anchoring over or swinging over is critical...


We used every bit of the 600' of stern line that we brought for Seaquel...


Seaquel and Journey on anchor with stern ties...

Alaska is defined by its scale and size.  Even when it rains, it rains BIG...

It is raining and foggy, but Glen is smiling as usual.  A sunny disposition is all that is needed...


One final attempt to clear out carbon build-up from bad fuel on the diesel heater.  Black smoke pours out of the exhaust, but no heat.  We will have to make do, but fortunately the last of the coldest, rainiest days are behind us...

Pictures cannot capture the surreal beauty and scale of this majestic fjiord...




The morning mist and clouds are clearing, providing our best views of Fords Terror in three days.  The peace and tranquility of West Arm Anchorage belies what lies ahead once we try to exit this remarkable area...

Journey at low tide in Fords Terror, surrounded by soaring peaks and shifting fog...

Waterfalls everywhere...

Time to head out of Fords Terror to seek our next adventure.  Little did we know our next adventure was so close by - just around the corner lurking in the narrows...

Beyond and Journey approach the large falls, and the narrows are just around the corner...

Approaching the narrows of Fords Terror, something looks different...

Glen, in Journey, goes first. We figured the ice must just be hung up in the narrows of Fords Terror...

While the ice pack was significant within the relatively short narrows of Fords Terror, we all assumed once transited we would find wide open waters once we reached the broader expanses beyond the narrows, and then the even greater breadth of huge Endicott Arm...

Journey gets to the point of no turning back within the narrows.  And soon the relative calm of high tide slack will transform this quiet bend into a raging torrent, and the icebergs will become potential torpedos…

Ollie and Pam, in Beyond, usually are the 2nd boat following Journey.  Ollie called to Seaquel on the VHF radio to express concern about proceeding, preferring to hold back. Glen radios that he thinks the ice pack will improve further around the bend.  Mark chose to proceed and suggested that Beyond follow, based on the concern that better to keep all three boats together than be separated at the narrows with the possibility of no radio/cell/satellite communication.  There is no good option at this point, but we have a game plan to proceed and catch up with Journey.  Seaquel heads into the ice pack, and Beyond follows...

Photo above courtesy Pam Pepper

Photo above courtesy Pam Pepper

The ice pack is worse than any of us imagined.  Not only is it a challenge to pick our way through the narrows of Fords Terror; but once into the wider channel we realize that there is ice everywhere...

It wasn't just that there was so much ice, it was also shifting with the tide.  We realized that the ice was predominantly moving from our port to starboard, so in addition to trying to make headway North up Endicott Arm, we also worked our way to the western edge where we hoped to find a passage past the ice...

Icebergs!  Floating and shifting ice is EVERYWHERE!

Proceeding slowly, but the icebergs are everywhere.  There are innumerable small bergs, the kind that can be hard to see but still capable of damaging a fiberglass hull.  And there are also many icebergs larger than a house, let alone far bigger and heavier than our boats...

Mark likely added a few more gray hairs, but hey, that goes with the salt & pepper beard!


Beyond makes progress through the ice.  Note the extreme calm water: we were VERY fortunate to deal with ice alone; absent any wind, waves, rain, or fog...

Proceeding into the larger Endicott Arm, we are shocked that the ice continues, as far as the eye can see, in every direction...

Mark, showing obvious concern, navigates Seaquel past a larger iceberg...

Beyond, following Seaquel, seeking the path of least resistance.  The smaller bergies seen in the picture below can actually be very dangerous, as they are hard to see and the bulk of the mass is hidden underwater.  Many of these smaller bergs can weigh hundreds of pounds and have edges sharp as a knife...

As far as the eye can see in every direction, no clear path through the ice.  We had to nudge the smaller bergs aside to get through.  I found that, in addition to turning the boat sharply by use of alternating forward and reverse with the rudder turned sharply, I would use my bow and stern thrusters to help maneuver and also cushion the impact of bergs.  There was risk of hitting ice with the thruster and breaking a shear pin, but I figured that was less consequential than incurring damage to the fiberglass hull...

The view from Seaquel's helm.  None of this ice was here just 48 hours earlier...


No end in sight.  One of the mental challenges was the unknown of whether we had two hours, ten hours, or twenty hours to persevere.  Also, would get out at all or spend the night trapped in the icebergs?  As it turned out Endicott Arm (the larger, longer channel) was choked with ice for about half of its length.  We spent a total of about 4 hours navigating 8 miles of this stretch, with every second demanding full and complete attention to avoid one wrong hit...

A brief video of Peggy describing the ice pack we have just spent 4 hours navigating through to get to clearer, navigable water...


Appropriately, blue sky opened up to reveal a bright, late afternoon sun just as we cleared the last of the icebergs and had clear sailing back to Tracy Arm Cove where we could anchor and rest...

Mark's smile says it all: we are successfully past the ice pack...


Close to Tracy Arm Cove, more large ice bergs, along with large cruise ships - the first sign of civilization since we entered the ice pack...

Into the cozy confines of Tracy Arm Cove where other boats were anchored but likely did not have the harrowing experience of navigating ice pack as we had coming out of Fords Terror...

Finally at anchor as the sun sets in Tracy Arm Cove after our longest day - certainly the longest 4 hours any of us in the flotilla have ever endured...

A safe anchorage, dinner, and sleep never felt so good!  We checked the hulls of all three boats and remarkably none of the boats took on any damage.  These tugs really met the challenge of some tough conditions today, and tomorrow we head south leaving the icebergs behind, but memories that will last a lifetime...

~Mark