Beluga Point: watch for whales, Dall sheep and a bore tide

Pods of white beluga whales arrive here seasonally on high tides, preying on salmon and eulachon, a form of smelt Alaskans call "hooligan." Telescopes provide closer views of whales rolling in the surf at high tide and of Dall sheep on cliffs across the highway. Interpretive displays brief visitors to this natural viewpoint used by hunters thousands of years ago.


A bore tide appears almost on schedule, but intensity varies

A tidal bore occurs when Cook Inlet's flooding tide overwhelms the ebbing waters in Turnagain Arm, a narrow, shallow, sloping basin with an extremely high tidal range. The inlet's 40-foot tide range is the second highest in North America (after Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy).

A bore tide wave from 6 inches to 6 feet high travels at 10 to 15 miles per hour. Minus tides at full moon and new moon with opposing winds produce the best show. Low tide at Beluga Point comes 75 minutes later than tide table listings for Anchorage. 


A modest bore tide rolls rapidly up Cook Inlet's Turnagain Arm
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