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.
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.
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.
Peace
