The Traveling Widower

Category: Expedition

  • Kodiak Day 4 – Huh? What Happened?

    A man in a gray suit and orange gloves steps onto the float of a red and white seaplane docked at a waterfront. The plane has an open door revealing seats inside, surrounded by lush green trees and calm water.

    August 28th, 2026

    This was supposed to be our first day on the Natural Habitat Bear boat, the Ursus, getting there on a float plane. We started out the day visiting a local author/photographer/master gardener for a very interesting talk on photography, followed by a walk through her beautiful gardens. Absolutely stunning, with incredible views from her backyard. It’s not too surprising that things grow so well here in the summer – perfect weather with lots of rain.

    A close-up of purple flowers in front of a calm lake, with evergreen trees in the background under a cloudy sky.
    A scenic view of a calm waterway featuring a large ship sailing in the distance, framed by vibrant purple flowers and evergreen trees in the foreground.
    Cluster of orange lilies with green foliage, some petals displaying raindrops.
    A lush garden with vibrant orange flowers, green plants, and a gravel pathway featuring decorative stones. A wooden fence borders the garden, and a house with a red roof is in the background. A bald eagle perched on a wooden stump adds a unique touch to the scene.

    From there, we headed over to the seaplane airport, for our 47 minute flight to the boat. They weighted all our bags, and our bodies, and divided the group up for two planes, and then we waited for a bit. Once the plane was ready, we crammed ourselves in – I got to ride next to the pilot. Woo Hoo. I just had to promise not to touch anything

    A person wearing headphones and a cap, sitting inside an aircraft cockpit, with a serious expression.
    Cockpit view of a small aircraft featuring flight controls, instrument panel, and navigation screens, with raindrops on the windshield.

    The take off was fun – sort of like being in a high powered speed boat until you suddenly get airborne. After that we gained altitude, and started climbing up over the mountains, crossing the width of Kodiak Island. The scenery was spectacular.

    Aerial view of a mountainous landscape with a lake and lush green forests, featuring a cloudy sky.
    Aerial view of a lush green landscape with rivers and mountains, captured from an airplane window.
    Aerial view of lush green mountains and forests, captured from the wing of a small aircraft.

    We crossed over some large fjords, and one native village, and then headed over the sound/channel to get to the mainland. Everything was going well up until that point. Up ahead though, was a wall of clouds and as we entered, visibility went down to about 0. The pilot kept dropping down until we were at about 100’ above the waves, which we could see, but it obviously was too dangerous to continue on.

    Aerial view of a foggy ocean with a seaplane wing in the frame.

    Plus the ride was extremely rough – we hit on pocket and dropped down hard – we were buckled in, but were still tossed around. I had to be careful since I could not grab onto anything. It would not be good to push the throttle control by mistake. So, the pilot let us know that we were heading back. No complaints from anyone. 

    The trip back was a bit easier once we got out of the clouds, and we landed without incident. There was still a possibility of trying again that afternoon if the weather cleared, so some of us went out with another guide, looking for bears. We did some nice hikes, but did not see any unfortunately. Nice scenery and a lot of salmon.

    A close-up view of fish swimming above rocky riverbed stones in clear water.
    A river flowing through a lush landscape with trees on either side and a cloudy mountain in the background.

    So, we lose one day, but the bears will be waiting for us tomorrow.

    Peace

  • Kodiak Day 3 – A Hard Lesson

    A brown bear walking along a riverbank with green foliage in the background.

    August 27th, 2026

    Today is the 28th – this will be my last day of internet for four days, since we are flying out on the float plane to join the Ursus, our home away from home while we go on shore to photograph the bears. 

    Yesterday was a beautiful day in Kodiak, perfect weather with great opportunities for photography. I enjoyed the day, but had one of those hard lessons when it comes to photography gear. I know I’ve written about some of the gear I’ve bought since I started traveling – two new Sony cameras, which I’ve been really pleased with (but are now obsolete), and two long lenses. I struggled buying both of those – for the longer lens, 200-600MM, I had intended to buy the latest from Sony, but after seeing photographers struggle with the size and weight in crowded Zodiac boats, I thought it might be best to get something a bit more compact, and wound up with a Tamron 150-500MM. That worked out well for me in Antarctica. Then I decided I needed something a bit lighter and more compact for trips like Iceland, where I probably would not be photographing wildlife. Once again, I chose another Tamron lens based on the weight. It worked out sort of OK on that trip, although I wished that I had a longer lens for photographing the puffins. 

    Well, yesterday those decisions came back to haunt me. I brought along the Tamron 50-400, based on what one of the Natural Habitat experts said on a Zoom call – we will be so close to the bears that you do not need a long lens. Unfortunately yesterday, I did. We started our day, with perfect weather, on a small boat wildlife cruise in the waters around Kodiak – aside from whales, there are otters and a variety of birds, including my personal favorites, puffins. We did see a lot of them, but never close enough for my pitifully small 400mm lens. My soon-to-be roommate on the Ursus has a 400-800mm Sony lens, and captured some incredible shots of the puffins, one in flight carrying a bunch of fish. A classic shot for these birds. I came away with zilch. The same goes for the otters. I really needed a 600mm, or a teleconverter which boosts the reach (1.4 or 1.6X). Sony makes one of those, but only for Sony lenses. There are also a lot of features you only get when hooking up Sony lenses to Sony cameras which are useful for serious photography. 

    Our second outing of the day also hit home on making better choices on what lenses to buy and to bring along on trips. We drove around some of the local river parks, looking for bears – the salmon run is in full gear now, and the rivers are packed with salmon….and fishermen. The bears try to avoid people, which is a good thing – there’s a lot of room in the rivers, and plenty of fish to go around. We hiked in and spotted a bear that was heading to the river, and then followed it upstream to spot where we could hopefully photograph it feeding. We never got too close, and it was an awkward spot, so I never got the monopod hooked up. I did get one or two OK shots, but the majority were a bit blurred. The bear got annoyed with all the people, and headed off to the woods after a few minutes. Darn. A longer Sony lens would have been better for this situation – better stabilization, and more reach.

    I did get some nice shots of a juvenile bald eagle when the boat returned to the harbor – there’s nothing wrong with the lens, it’s great for some situations. Just not for distant puffins. 

    A juvenile eagle perched among lush green foliage, with its beak open as if calling out.

    I’m not disappointed at all – it was a fun day, got to see some amazing scenery, lots of wildlife, and my first look at the Kodiak bears. Every trip is a learning experience. I think I’ll be buying myself a Christmas present from my favorite camera store this year. 

    Peace

    Can’t beat the scenery here….