From left, Sonia Kumar, Amy Klink, and Greg Merrill cut blubber from a dead humpback whale that washed up on the shore of Turnagain Arm south of Girdwood on Tuesday, April 30, 2019.

Surfers ride the bore tide on Turnagain Arm along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (Bob Hallinen Photo) The bore tide in the Turnagain Arm attracts surfers and ...

But here, at Turnagain Arm, the ride can last five to 15 minutes, and if you paddle out far enough, it can be up to an hour. “This is way longer for sure,” said Sullivan. “And you can feel it.

The drowning was the latest tragedy at Turnagain Arm, a 48-mile-long estuary in Alaska known for its dangerous mud flats made of silt created by glacier-pulverized rocks.

Stormo is going to try surfing again, only this time he’ll be riding the Turnagain Arm bore tide, a tide that is famous for its waves that can reach up to 10 feet.

The beautiful, yet deadly mud flats of Alaska's Turnagain Arm tragically claimed another victim this week, after a 20-year-old man became stuck waist deep and drowned with the incoming tide.

Zachary Porter, 20, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, was submerged Sunday evening as the tide came in at Turnagain Arm. His body was recovered Monday.

At low tide, Turnagain Arm is known for its mud flats that "can suck you down," the lead EMT said. "It looks like it's solid, but it's not." Zachary Porter, 20, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, got stuck ...