08/19/2024
DAY 51 & 52. As many already know, yesterday was my birthday. As planned, Jane & I set up camp at the Bird Creek Campground in the Chugach State Park on the Turnagain Arm in anticipation of witnessing and photographing the spectacle of the largest Bore Tide in the world. This astronomical tidal phenomenon is greatly enhanced in the days immediately before and after the Full Moon. This year, my birthday fell on the eve of the August Super Blue Moon here just south of Anchorage Alaska.
The bore tide is a spectacular sight, a wave up to 10 feet high, that thunders into Turnagain Arm just south of Anchorage in the right tide conditions.
Alaska’s most famous bore tide occurs in Turnagain Arm, just outside Anchorage. It builds up to 6 – 10 feet tall and can reach speeds of 10 to 15 miles per hour. It takes not just a low tide but also about a 27-foot tidal differential (between high and low tide) for a bore to form in Turnagain Arm.
Well, this “Bore Tide” is somewhat predictable, but not 100%.
Yesterday, my birthday, the tidal charts recommended to be at an optimum viewing location 30 minutes before the predicted spectacle, plus give use enough time to anticipate a large volume of spectators and associated traffic.
We were where we intended to be and anxiously waited - and waited - and waited and returned to camp empty handed.
We tried again today and voila—success!!
Experienced surfers entered the freezing cold waters of the Turnagain Arm and awaited the incoming “Bore Tide”. The air temperature was approximately 57 degrees and the winds out of the West gusted way over 45 MPH, practically knocking us over as we set up the camera on a sturdy heavy trio-pod.
Approximately 20 minutes later than expected, the waters began ripping and churning as the Bore Tide raced across the 20 some odd mile Turnagain Arm Fjord at remarkable speed up to 15 MPH.
We watched the spectacle from two locations approximately 1 1/2 miles apart, racing from one to the other to catch the Bore Tide with its surfers as they rode the strange wave over a mile!
It was a spectacle you have to see to appreciate.
After the the tide continued to the end of the Turnagain Arm, as the surfers, red faced from the freezing water, climbed ashore to get dried off and warmed up, ready to face the Bore Tide again, hopefully tomorrow!
