The Traveling Widower

Category: Expedition

  • Life On The Ursus

    A black fishing vessel anchored in a calm sea, with mountains covered in green vegetation in the background.
    The Ursus

    August 29th, 2026

    I’m sure anyone who started their first semester college career in a dormitory, remembers that unsettling feeling when you walk into your room for the first time, which probably has a bunk bed, limited space, and a shared bathroom down the hall or in your multi-bedroom suite. Now shrink that down to the size of a medium sized closet, and picture two adults in that same space, with a tiny bathroom shared with two adults in the adjoining tiny cabin and you’ve got the living quarters on the Ursus. It’s cramped but comfortable and functional. But you do have to coordinate showers and potty breaks with your neighbors – the doors lock on both sides so you have to remember to lock the other side upon entry, and unlock it on the way out. And remember to put the seat back down…..something most men learn after 48 years of marriage.

    The Ursus was formerly a crab boat, used in the Deadliest Catch TV series. When the boat was replaced on the series, the owner had thoughts about using it for tourism in Alaska. Eventually, he wound up in partnership with Natural Habitat Adventures, and it was modified for bear tourism. There’s not that much you can do with a small crab boat to accommodate a large number of guests comfortably – as you can see in the photo, there a small section of cabins aft on the boat for the crew quarters, the wheel house and a kitchen. The rest of the boat has holds for the catch, big winches and space for the crab pots, and other related activities for catching crabs. So what they did was build two structures in the middle of the boat, each with two small cabins and a shared bathroom. You can see that on the photo – the white structure, with two windows (the cabins) and a very small window in the middle for the bathroom. The passageway between the two structures (I call them shipping containers) is covered, so you can get over to the kitchen without getting too wet.

    A narrow hallway with wooden planks, lined with black and red boots on both sides, leading to a yellow threshold. In the background, there are two white outdoor chairs.
    Corridor and four cabin doors

    You can also see all the boots outside the cabins – no room to store them inside. Each cabin has a sink, a bunk bed, and a large cubby hole for your stuff. You can store luggage and bags under the beds. The beds are comfortable, with extra blankets if it gets cold. You get towels of course, which never really dry off. It is a lot like camping.

    That’s it for accommodations. They use the cranes to move the skiff off and on the boat, and the guests can hang round in the kitchen/dining area/lounge. Very cozy, and it’s kind of fun sitting and watching the cook/chef do her thing. The guide and crew all hang around – it’s like a big, family gathering. 

    Interior view of a cozy kitchen and dining area featuring wooden walls, a round table set with glassware and a laptop, and bear-themed artwork on the walls.
    Interior of a cozy wooden dining area featuring a large table set with glassware and utensils, a decorative photo of a bear on the wall, and a round window allowing light and a sea view.

    It works, as long as you are not expecting all the creature comforts you get on a cruise ship. No spa, no bar, no waiter service/room service and no internet. You are on the Ursus to be out with the huge bears, and enjoy the company of your fellow photographers. You are not there to be pampered.

    Another nice feature on the Ursus was the wheel house, which you could hang around in whenever you wanted – you get a 360 degree view of the world, and can chat with the captain while the ship is moving. They also let me steer the ship.

    A man steering a boat from the helm, wearing a black puffer jacket, with a view of the ocean in the background.
    Not really – an ornamental wheel

    So life on board was a lot different than being on cruise ship – you just need to adjust…quickly. Really, it was a lot of fun, since everyone is suffering with the inconveniences together. Everyone eats together at the one big table in the galley. We all gripe and laugh about pulling the waders on and off. It’s a group experience throughout the trip. My little shipping container group of my roommate and two retired school teachers, also had the pleasure of enjoying the initial ride out in the float plane that had to turn around in the storm. More good stories to laugh about. One of the teachers had been on the Ursus before, and the other group of four had one person who had been on the trip multiple times. We all had a great time on board.

    Here are a few more photos from the ship

    View from the cabin of a boat showing the water and distant mountains.
    Interior view of a boat deck with wooden flooring, featuring two gray chairs, life vests hanging on a rack, and storage areas. Mountains and cloudy sky are visible through the open deck.
    Boat's stern viewed from below with sky in the background

    Today (Monday) is our last full on the Ursus, and out with the brown bears. I’ve done some pretty crazy trips so far since my wife passed – this one is by far the most adventurous – and one I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Jan would absolutely never have gone on this, but she would have enjoyed my stories for sure. 

    Peace.

  • Katmai National Park – Day 1

    A brown bear wading through a clear stream with two bears resting on the shore in the background.

    August 29th

    Second time was a charm. We got out at Oh-Dark-30 to the seaplane airport this morning, waited for an hour, and then flew off with the same pilot from yesterday. Who happened to be the most experience – we were told that if he said we needed to turn back yesterday, we REALLY needed to turn back. 

    Today though was perfect weather. The flight was about 50 minutes and thankfully not much longer  – this time we had three of us crammed into a single bench. It was like that Marx Brothers movie, A Night at the Opera, where they keep cramming people into a small state room, to the point where someone opens the door and everyone comes flying out. Well, maybe not that bad. But it was a smooth ride, and a smooth landing in Geographic Bay, in the Kaitma National Park. Unbelievably beautiful scenery on the flight in, and once we landed. 

    Aerial view from a small aircraft showing rugged coastal islands and a vast ocean under a clear blue sky.
    Aerial view of mountainous landscape with snow-capped peaks, surrounded by calm blue waters under a clear sky.
    View from a seaplane wing showing a calm water body with a large black barge docked in the background and mountains in the distance.

    This is really one of the most remote areas in the US – no roads, no buildings….just trees, mountains, rivers and a lot of wildlife. Including a very large population of brown bears, AKA grizzlies. This time of year, pretty much any river that the salmon spawn in, will have bears fishing along the shores. In large numbers. You’ll see big alpha males, juveniles and mothers with cubs, with some bears fighting over food, and the females defending their cubs when males approach (they are known to kill cubs). 

    Once our plane landed in the bay, we were met by the Ursus skiff – a good sized boat with a landing ramp, which is great for beach landings.

    View of a small motorboat anchored in calm waters, with mountains and greenery in the background under a cloudy sky.

    We basically exchanged places with the outgoing group – we stayed a day extra in Kodiak, and they got to stay an extra day in bear country on the Ursus. They got the better deal…we missed a day with the bears.

    We met the crew once on board – all five of them. It’s a small boat. The leader has been working with the bears for 21 years, and is probably one of the premier guides in Alaska for the big bears. After settling into our miniscule cabins, and touring the kitchen/lounge, we were fitted for our waders and boots, geared up, and headed to shore in the skiff for our first outing with the bears. I was more than a bit nervous about stumbling around in the wader and boots, and of course, being with the bears. As we approached our target area for the afternoon, we counted at least a dozen bears wandering around, some with cubs. Oh boy, it’s show time!

    The leader prepped us before we left, emphasizing the concept of trust. First, we needed to trust that he will make sure we have the best possible experience in the next few days, and he will keep us safe while making sure the bears are not impacted by our presence. In order to be successful, we have to listen to what he tells us to do – he knows from years of experience, when a bear is stressed or agressive, and what or response should be. If we need to circle in a tight group, we should do that immediately. If we need to sit quietly, everyone should shut up. This is not a trip where you can wander off on your own. Even if you need to heed the call of nature, you have to ask permission. You’d hate to meet a bear with your pants down.

    It was low tide when we arrived, so we had a ways to walk on a rocky beach to get close to the mouth of the river and the bears. It was good practice getting used to walking in the waders and special boots – I was OK except for crossing deeper channels. That balance thing made it a bit tricky. But I managed to get to our first stop without falling. We came to halt not too far from a few of the bears, including a mother with two cubs, sat down on our buckets, and started shooting.

    It’s hard to describe this experience – it was so amazing to see these enormous beasts in their natural setting, and be so incredibly close to them. That trust thing the lead told us about really works. The bears to do not consider us to be a source of protein, and just ignore us once you settle in. We are not a threat, just some curious animals that make clicking sounds. The bears see us, occasionally stare, and sometime saunter over. But usually, they walk on by. Sometimes just a few feet away. One big male walked straight over to us, and stopped about five feet from my roommate on the trip. I thought for a while that I might get my solo cabin after all. We all sat still and after a minute or two, the bear backed off, and walked away.

    We moved around quite a bit as the tide came in (quickly I might add), and had similar experiences, once with a cub that walked by us, maybe six feet away. We did get to see something few get to see – the female feeding her cubs not too far from where we were sitting, so we all got some incredible photos and videos, including the cubs with milk ‘mustaches’ where they were done feeding. They cubs make a ‘motor boat’ sound when they feed, but my hearing range has decreased through the years, probably from listening to too much Led Zepelin and Jethro Tull. 

    As the tide came in the bears moved upstream or into the forests, so we sat and talked for a while, and then called the skiff to pick us up and return to the boat. We had enough fun. Really. I had about 1000 photos for the 3 hours session. My roommate, who has a higher end Sony, with an extremely fast burst rate, shot 4000. I also used my Pixel phone quite a bit for video as well. 

    This one outing way exceeded my expectations, which were already high. I’m going to be very busy editing photos for quite some time, and this was just the first day.

    Oh, and maybe I should share a few of them.

    A close-up view of a brown bear and a cub resting on a sandy shore near a river, surrounded by lush greenery.
    A mother bear standing next to her cub on a rocky shore near water, with greenery in the background.
    Two brown bears walking along a riverbank with a seagull in the background.

    Peace