Three Days on Alaska’s Lituya Bay, Site of the World’s Largest Tsunami

By Alex Benson from www.mvwildblue.blogspot.com

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

It's 7AM and Wild Blue has slowed, gently rolling amongst moderate Pacific swells in the Gulf of Alaska, just a quarter mile off shore. From various pilothouse positions, all five sets of crew eyes are peering at the narrow channel ahead. Slack high tide occurred well over an hour ago, but ocean water continues to flood through the tiny entrance into the 12 square mile bay. We're straining to see any over-falls or rip-tides at the entrance, but the welcoming, glassy water inside the bay tends to lure us forward. This skinny entrance and its tidal current have us worried. Along with other scary words, the US Coast Pilot states: "On the flood……. boats often enter, being quickly swept through the center of the channel by the powerful current. However, no stranger should attempt to enter except at slack water." The Pilot has history to back its guidance; 21 French, 9 Russians, over 150 Tlingits, and several American sailors perished while transiting this entrance. The Wild Blue and its crew are definitely strangers to Lituya Bay, Alaska.

Lituya Bay: 12 square miles, one tiny entrance. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

We concentrate on the entrance, rubbing our sleepy eyes. These Alaskan summer days are long and yesterday began early. First we provisioned in Hoonah, then cruised westerly up Icy Strait, past Glacier Bay, beyond Elfin Cove, and continued west through Cross Sound into the mighty Gulf of Alaska. Nicely spaced 4-foot ocean swells greeted us at Cape Spencer lighthouse and we pushed up the Gulf coast another 13 miles, finding sheltered anchorage inside Dixon Harbor. The sun set at 10PM along with the anchor, and it was already light at 3AM today when we hauled it. This morning we motored up the western edge of Glacier Bay National Park, where crews are treated to spectacular views of the Fairweather Range and beautiful La Perouse Glacier as it meets the Pacific. Our 32-mile run has been in lumpy, chalky-green glacier runoff water which apparently floats, as our wake displays the darker-colored seawater churned up by the prop. We passed a dozen salmon long-liners but no pleasure boats.

Although Lituya is not the most visited bay in the Park, it is world famous for the giant wave that occurred in the Bay on July 9, 1958. At 1740 feet tall, it is the highest wave in recorded history. Surprisingly the crews of 2 out 3 boats anchored in the Bay survived the wave. Signs of the wave supposedly are still visible, which we hope to view. The Bay is also noted for great halibut fishing which we hope to view and taste. First we have to manage this tricky entrance.

Lituya Bay entrance has a 200-foot wide channel of navigable water

At last we agree that the entrance water looks slack and throttle up. The crew fastens their seat belts, ready to shoot the rapids, but----- there are none, just a gentle 2-knot push. And just like that we are inside on the pond! The ocean noise dissipates and a near glassy, flat surface prevails across a chalky-green pond that's about 2 miles wide and over 6 miles long. All that prep and fret is quickly behind us as we set anchor at the foot of La Chaussee Spit in the Bay's northwest corner.

We're excited to be in the Bay and another shot of dark-black coffee wires us up for fishing. We launch the tender and load the gear: poles, bait and a 6-foot long spear pole with detachable tip. By mid-morning we are drifting near the west end of Lituya Bay in 50 feet. Two poles are baited: one with cut herring chunks, the other with a medium-sized frozen herring. The third pole is rigged for bottom mooching with a white-colored lead-head hook and red wiggly body. Our gear is dropped and we settle in for the wait.

In short order it becomes clear what it takes to hook a halibut in Lituya: just a pulse. You just need to be alive! Obviously the seafloor is thickly carpeted with halibut and when we dropped our gear, it bonked a big halibut on the head. Soon the fish awakened, ignored the two baited lines, but swallowed the mooch jig. Wow what a kick! The 12-foot, 700-pound tender started moving around like a whale boat on the chase. We fought the fish for 20 minutes when its color finally showed. It is a BIG one, and now comes our BIG decision. If we boat it, our fishing is over as the freezer will be filled to the max.

The biggest fish any of us has ever caught!

After pledging to eat copious amounts of fresh halibut over many days, and re-assessing the freezer space, we decided to take the fish. A 30-foot piece of 1/4-inch line was tied to the spear tip, and then to a cleat at the bow of the tender. Crew Gerard deftly guided the fish into spearing range, and Alex took the shot! Zap! The fish was stabbed clean through leaving the spear tip on its far side. The water turned red and the fish towed us for a short ride. Within a few minutes the big guy gave up and we dragged him over to the Wild Blue for processing. We'd been in Lituya Bay for just a couple hours and already boated the biggest fish any of us had ever caught!

Crew Gerard's big fish was a bit under 5 feet long weighing in at 103 pounds. All hands immediately shifted into processing mode. Gerard sharpens the knives, and Tina and Peg begin preparing Foodsaver bags while voicing yet untried halibut recipes. About 77 pounds of meat are harvested from this fish in the form of 1.5-inch steak-cut fillets. Above the hum of our Foodsaver we make a note: order our next Selene with two freezers!

Tina is dreaming about dinner, and how to cram 77 pounds of fish into the freezer.

While the crew was hard at work processing the fish, the skipper was noting the fish guts being discarded overboard. It seems other fish might be attracted to the boat, so Alex started lazy-mooching off the stern. "Lazy-mooching" entails paying attention to anything else except fishing, while slowly lifting and lowering the pole. It's extremely poor form to appear interested in fishing. You should never look at the pole, and if you get a hookup, don't let that interrupt a good conversation. It's best to lazy-mooch while seated, with your favorite alcoholic beverage. The lazy-moocher's motto: "We only need a pulse to fish."

Within minutes another fish is hooked, and after 10 minutes, the fish was on the surface. Since the freezer is full and the processing crew refused to clean another, we decided to "Free Willie" after measuring him. This second halibut is about 50 inches long, but returns to its carpet on the seafloor.

General Contractor Bob always has a tape measure handy.

Noting our proximity to the entrance and watching how the ebb current pulls us toward it, we set redundant anchor alarms. After a really long and satisfying Alaskan day we retire.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

This morning we take a cruise deeper into the bay look for signs of the big wave. After a breakfast of fresh halibut (of course!) and eggs, we motor east to the Cascade Glacier at the head of the Bay.

Looking east toward Cascade Glacier at the head of Lituya Bay

The same topography that leads to the strong tidal currents at the entrance also created the highest wave ever recorded anywhere in the world. A large earthquake lasting over 3-minutes on the evening of July 9, 1958 caused a landslide in Crillon Inlet at the head of the bay, generating a massive mega-tsunami measuring 1,740 feet high. The wave stripped trees and soil from the opposite headland and consumed the entire bay. There were three fishing boats anchored near the entrance of Lituya Bay on the evening the giant wave occurred. One boat sank and the two people on board lost their lives. The other two boats were able to ride the wave. When the wave reached the open sea it dissipated quickly.

Photo of Lituya Bay shortly after the 1958 wave showing the shoreline areas scraped bare.

Today, one can easily see the height of the wave by noticing the tree line: Newer growth areas that were stripped bare in 1958 are shorter compared to the old growth.

A recent geologic study has determined that slides and tsunamis have been rather frequent in Lituya Bay. Approximately every 30 years from about an 1854 a giant wave has occurred. This pattern stopped after the 1958 slide, so many believe another slide, and big wave are overdue. So with that information, we decide to anchor on the west side of Cenotaph Island, located halfway down the Bay, just in case.

Today's cruise sort of explains why a recent slide may not cause another tsunami. The head of Lituya Bay has already filled and there is no water or ice to displace, which probably means no more big waves. Today Gilbert Inlet, the area that contained ice and water in 1958, has filled with slide material.

After careful study, we update our Lituya Bay chart to reflect the filled-in inlets at the head of the Bay.

Earlier wet set 2 prawn traps in about 350 feet. Within just a few hours we have enough prawns to fill a 5-gallon bucket. Another fun day in Alaska comes to an end after a dinner of fresh halibut and prawns.

  

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Today we'll go ashore on Cenotaph Island. There's supposed to be a fishing cabin somewhere on the island as noted in the eyewitness report from those that were here during the 1958 tsunami. We motor ashore in the tender and note a tide that only has about 2 more feet to drop before slack. So we moor the tender near shore in about 4 foot of depth. Now we begin our 3-hour tour around Cenotaph Island.

Plaque honoring Mr. Jim Huscroft who apparently lived through a tsunami on October 27, 1936.

The west side has a sandy beach and looks like a good place for a cabin to be located. We nearly circle the island and on our way back, near the west facing sandy beach, we note a brass plaque mounted high on a large rock. Apparently a Mr. Jim Huscroft lived on the island for 22 years until the mid-1930's. It's reported that he went to Juneau once a year to get the mail, supplies and last year's newspapers. Back at his Cenotaph Island home, each morning Mr. Huscroft read the newspaper that had been published exactly one year earlier. He said "It doesn't matter which year it is. The news is all the same anyway". The plaque was dedicated to him by the Harvard-Dartmouth Alaska Expeditions in the early 1930's. However, his cabin was nowhere to be found.

After our tour, we arrived to find Wild Blue's tender high and dry. We seem to be able get this to happen at least once each summer. Architect Bob and contractor Gerard began designing and building a launch ramp from old decaying trees. After clever lever jockeying, the boat rolled down the ways afloat once again.

What an environmental mess these guys are making, but the dead tree served a good use from its grave.

We had a blast in Lituya exploring the bay and surroundings. The Bay is a bit on the wild side and has lots of adventure to offer. For more information about the Lituya Bay and its history we recommend "Wildest Alaska" by Philip L. Fradkin.

Tomorrow we'll exit on the weak ebb current near slack, and head south along the Gulf, turning into the calmer waters of Cross Sound.

Wild Blue anchored just east of Cenotaph Island.

 
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