2026 Flotilla to Alaska Day 44 - Ford's Terror, Dawes Glacier, Wood Spit
by Slowboat 28 Jun 06:12 PDT
First, here are two pics from sunset last night that came in after we published yesterday's post — one facing west, from Greg on True Grit:
And one of True Grit taken by Adrienne on Evenstar 55, facing east:
Right after these photos, the fog rolled in thick and amazingly fast!
Also, since the shrimp haul has been quite successful here, I made shrimp risotto last night and I forgot to post a photo, so here it is (thanks to Alicia on Evenstar 42, for the parmesan and butter...I bartered with some arborio rice and a couple handfuls of more shrimp):
This morning was another easy morning — sleeping in, breakfast/smoothies, checking shrimp traps, a little boat clean up — before we departed Ford's Terror just after high slack at 12:25pm.
On our way out of Ford's Terror, Scott and Lisa on Impulse did the very fun trick of poking the bow of the big boat inside the crevasse with the waterfall...when there's little current or wind, it's pretty amazing, and even better if someone takes a few photos to show you how tiny your boat looks in there!
We left Ford's Terror with a couple knots of current still flooding/against us, turned left and headed up Endicott Arm.
More turquoise waters.
The pointy peak on the right is over 5200 feet tall!
Great colors on the walls as we continue up Endicott toward the glacier:
This seal and her pup lounging on the ice were very cute...they took a quick look at Airship as we passed, stretched a bit, and went back to sleep.
We were hoping to get a view of Dawes Glacier and we got it, and then some!
There wasn't nearly as much ice as there was in Tracy Arm the other day, so we pushed on and got within half a mile of the glacier face. Time for a photo shoot! Greg and Laurie made their way up and before they'd turned True Grit to it's most photogenic angle, part of the glacier near them calved and I caught it!
Here they are celebrating:
Next up, Scott and Lisa on Impulse (with another, smaller calving):
Brian and Adrianne on Evenstar 55:
Gregg and Alicia on Evenstar 42:
Julie and David on Dog Star:
After the photos, we all moved up closer to the glacier to float around a bit and watch and listen. Cracking ice, the sounds of gulls, and the rushing waterfall. What a fantastic experience!
After an extremely eventful day, we all cruised back toward Wood Spit and Tracy Arm Cove (some boats opted for Wood Spit, some for Tracy Arm Cove).
Wood Spit when Stephens Passage is settled (like tonight) is a great stop — a view of Sumdum Glacier, occasional bear and moose on shore on the spit, whales spouting nearby, and looking the other direction, fantastic sunsets!
Tomorrow, we continue on to Juneau!