Shortly after entering Endicott Arm we passed Sumdum Island and there in its lee we found a huge ice berg perhaps 100 yards long. This berg looked to be very stable with a nearly flat surface that sloped down to the sea. We could tell the giant ice cube wasn't aground because there weren't any current swirls around it.
Matt and I decided the ice berg needed to be climbed, so we launched the dinghy and paddled over while the ladies minded Thankful. It probably wasn't the smartest thing we've ever done because these bergs can break or roll without warning, but we got away with it.
Ford's Terror, a fjord off the side of Endicott Arm, is so named because of the waterfall that develops at the narrowest part of the inlet when the water levels inside and outside differ significantly. The inlet is four miles long and perhaps a half mile wide inside the falls, and the throat of the falls is fifty yards wide and ten feet deep in the middle at low tide. With an average tidal swing of twelve feet, there is a lot of water that moves through the falls four times a day. A Navy surveyor named Ford was exploring the inlet by rowboat in 1889 when he accidentally discovered the falls at just about the worst possible tide. The difference in water levels inside and outside at the time was about seven feet, and poor Mr. Ford reportedly had quite a ride into the inlet.
Twice a day at slack high water, just after high tide when the water levels inside and outside the inlet are the same, there is perhaps a twenty minute period when there isn't much current through the falls and it is safe to pass through them in a boat. Thankful needed to kill some time waiting for slack high water, so we powered up towards the end of Endicott Arm. Five miles past Ford's Terror we encountered ice bergs too thick to get through so we turned around and headed back. We arrived just outside the falls an hour before slack water and dropped the hook next to the only other boat there. From our anchorage we could see the water rushing over the falls and into the head of the inlet.
Four other boats arrived before high slack water and milled around, but Thankful was the first boat through just as the flood tide was ending. Our passage through the falls wasn't as exciting as it would have been had we timed it wrong. Only one other large boat attempted the passage with the other four sending in dinghies to explore the head of the fjord.
The falls were like a gateway to another world. Inside we found the narrow fjord surrounded by mile high mountains. Waterfalls cascaded down from the remaining ice near their peaks. We were surprised to see porpoise and seals in the inlet. Thankful explored the length of the bay and anchored for the night under a waterfall at the head end.
We were up before 5AM this morning to time our exit through the falls with the first slack high water of the day. We were right behind the only other boat that spent the night inside.
Thankful stopped out in Endicott Arm to top up her ice chest with glacier ice from a floating berg. This will likely be our last chance for glacier ice for a while.
The weather has finally returned to its reportedly normal state here in Alaska. It isn't raining yet, but the clouds are covering the mountain tops around us and it is gray outside. We are making tracks toward Petersburg ahead of some nasty weather that is forecast to arrive in a couple of days.
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