The forecast for Friday was a strong bore tide in the Turnagain Arm, so we headed out to see it. A bore tide is when the tide comes in without the gradual increase usually found; instead it comes in as a surf wave. The only places in the US where it is found is in the arms of Cook Inlet, the big inlet where Anchorage is situated. Big bore tides happen every 7-8 days when there is a particularly low low tide and a particularly high high tide. We just got lucky with our timing that one was forecast to happen while we were in Anchorage.
The tourist information locations identify a number of places with good viewing possibilities, and we went to one known as Bore Tide Viewing Spot #5, pretty far up the arm and between Girdwood and Bird Point. It had great parking and a flat spot to view. We got there early, and it was a good thing. We were the third vehicle in the lot, and before the tide came in there were people double parked and out on the highway! along the way the clouds were very low, and it drizzled off and on.
We knew the ride was getting close when the surfers showed up.
Then came the surprising wave. Just a single, arm-wide wave that eventually curled over. The surfers (yes, they were all in heavy wetsuits), tried to surf it.
It was really great fun to watch, even in the drizzle and haze. Here are a few iPhone videos. You can leave the sound off; you mostly just hear the wind.
This one shows the early part of the surfers catching the wave.
This one is when the last two lost it.
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After the wave passed us by we had dinner at a nice BBQ place called the “Turnagain Arm Pit BBQ”. Cute name, and nicely smoked meat. I got a half rack of St. Louis ribs and a half rack of baby back ribs while Kevin got brisket. We had enough left overs for two additional meals! BBQ is good for that.
The next morning we left Anchorage to head to Homer. It rained and rained. Not just the standard Alaskan coastal drizzle, but lots of real rain. We lucked out into the most beautiful site in the campground (the Homer KOA) IMHO. It took some maneuvering to sit us almost sideways, and Kevin had to haul every foot of power cord we had, but he did it! The tiny dot center left is one of the fishing charters headed out from the Homer Spit. The distances are deceiving. It is over 5 miles across the water.
Homer is famous for fishing, but neither of us are anglers. We decided to go wandering along the Homer Spit, the remnant of a lateral moraine left over from the last ice age. Want to see what a Spit looks like?
The spit is mostly RV parks, tiny businesses (mostly marine related plus some restaurants), and the harbor with its hundreds of boats. The docks float up and down the poles based on the tide. You can see how much it varies by the dark markings.
And about those glaciers… Glacier National Park in the US has NOTHING on Alaska in regards to glaciers. They were all over the place. You can spot them easily because the ice in them is blue – compressed so tightly that no air exists in it and only blue light is reflected. I wish the gray skies didn’t fool the camera so much or the blue would be easier to see.
We saw 5 or 6 of them in a 30 mile scenic drive. There were probably more hidden by the clouds.
We have scheduled a wildlife boat tour for tomorrow, taking off from the Spit. I am hoping for lots more pictures, though we have rain in the forecast. Sigh.