Tracy Arm

1100 position 57-40N 133-20W. Heading up Endicott Arm

Yesterday was another stunning day in Southeast Alaska. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind for much of the day. We continue to be amazed at the fantastic weather we have been enjoying since arriving in Sitka to join Thankful two weeks ago. There has been some wind at times, but only a few hours of rain or fog.

We decided that a relatively shallow spot at the entrance to Tracy Arm would be a good place to fish, so we stopped mid-afternoon, turned off the engine, and drifted. The wind was calm, the water smooth as glass, and it was completely quiet. Every few minutes the absolute silence was broken by the cry of an eagle echoing off of the mountains behind us. We caught a few rock fish, but nothing we wanted to keep. It didn't matter. The beauty and silence were perfection. An hour later the quiet was broken by the sound of intermittent heavy breathing as a pod of orcas came around the point to the west and a worked their way along the shore inside of Thankful. The four females continued on and showed us the way into Tracy Arm.

The fjord land of southeast Alaska is full of nooks and crannies that make great anchorages, but the cruising guides showed only a couple in this area. We chose Tracy Arm Cove since it is on the way to Ford's Terror. Eight other boats made the same decision, but the anchorage is large and relatively shallow so we all had plenty of room for the night. One of the vessels in the anchorage was "Sikumi", a boat that Lori's Aunt Gainor, Uncle Joe, and family chartered in this area a few years ago.

As we departed Tracy Arm this morning we came across a huge ice berg aground in the middle of the 140 foot deep, quarter mile wide channel at the entrance of the arm. Matt proposed launching the dinghy to land on and climb it. As we approached though, a large section of the berg calved off with a loud crack, prompting us to decide that perhaps it wasn't such a good idea.

We are spending the day moseying up Endicott Arm sightseeing the glaciers and dodging ice bergs until high slack water this afternoon when we plan to run the gauntlet into Ford's Terror.