Dear Livejournal
Today I sat on a beach and watched as wild Alaskan Brown Bears ambled on down the river less than five meters away from where I was sitting. I watched Mama Bears fishing, keeping their cubs in line, young male bears get their noses put out of joint by the bigger older male bears, a mature middle aged female Bear chew enough grass to make any cow jealous, another Bear clamming on the beach, cubs running after their Mamas and then refusing to get their paws wet as she crossed the river, an ambitious, possibly slow to develop, young Bear try his paw at catching Canadian Geese (they weren't perturbed in the slightest) and Bears settling in for naps.
As if this was not amazing enough fandom followed me here. When we arrived at the airport hangar and were sorted into small groups of five I discovered our pilot's name was Michael. Cool. There had been a Jensen out there checking the planes and making sure they were good to go, he was clearly one of the flight mechanics and/or maintenance crew. So now there was a Michael AND a Jensen. Neat I thought. We landed and it turned out the other two pilots of the two planes that followed us were to be our "Bear Viewing" Guides. Their names? Jared and Tom. I kid you not. They weren't look alikes or anything (trust me I checked - not bad looking but no look alikes) BUT how does one itty bitty Alaskan family tourism company have Tom, Michael, Jared and Jensen working in the one place?
It was meant to be. We were meant to find a trip, with this company, on these planes, on this date, at this time. Initially we had walked down to the company we really wanted to use (right next to our RV park) and they were fully booked for the next two weeks. No dice. So glumly we trooped back to the RV and then I said brightly - let's walk the Homer Spit trail! Turns out this trail was nearly nine miles round trip and a very long way to walk but by doing that walk - we passed the reservations office for this Bear Viewing tour company. Which just happened to have a hand written sign in the window stating that there were still seats available on the Friday afternoon Bear viewing flight. We went in and inquired. It cost a LOT of money. We said we'd discuss it and call them in the morning (aka go back to RV and properly google the ass outta that company to see if they were any good). Turns out they're rated number one on Trip Advisor. Trip Advisor ratings generally don't lie. We ended up booking it, figuring we'd had to cancel the helicopter scenic tour in Denali this could take the place of the biggest Alaskan tour expense. And that's how we got to have one of the most amazing wildlife experiences I have ever had the privilege of.
Here are just a sampling of the shots I managed to take:
Our little Cessna 206. Smallest plane I've ever been in but our pilot Michael exuded such quiet experienced confidence I had no concerns whatsoever. I do marvel at these little beasts being able to lift off and land in just about any environment. That's a neat trick amongst the aviation world I bet.
The view out my window as we taxi down the runway heading for a take off position.
The view from my window once we're in the air.
Such grandiose landscapes are in abundant supply in the neck of the world. I did wonder if it ever loses it's wonder for the locals - or if they just go on holiday to some city and it all comes rushing back once they're home again.
First pretty close viewing was of a Mama Bear (they call them Sows but I always feel vaguely scandalised referring to such magnificent creatures as Sows. A Sow is a pig. So Mama Bear or Girl Bear or Matronly Lady Bear they shall be for me) who was on a mission to get some fishin'. ;-)
Her three children were less than exuberant about matching her determined strides. They rather reminded me of surly, sulky teenagers being hauled along to the the grocery shopping.
Cub #1.
Cub #2
Cub #3
And then to get a little perspective on sizes here...
There were PLENTY of bears to watch in this area. Which was not always the case with this location apparently. The guides were saying the morning trip didn't manage to see this many.
This young guy got subtly pressured into moving by another larger bear just ambling in to his fishing spot. He decided that he would walk right by us. And when I say "by" I mean within five meters, and close enough that Jared, our guide, felt the need to stand (we were all kneeling, crouched down). As soon as Jared stood, the bear just took an extra angled step away and carried on. But he gave us all some brilliant photo opportunities.
He's sooooo fluffy!
I'm not apologising. I loved this line from Despicable Me. Favourite movie moment. And therefore relevant to all future fluffy moments of note.
This was another guy bored with the grass chewing. He was heading out to the beach to do some fishing.
He passed right between us and the other group that was part of our three plane trip. Just a mesmerising, never to be forgotten trip. The guides were all very up and happy with the luck they'd had. As Michael said when it's just nothing but wildlife like this - every time you go out it's a new moment because you never know what sort of trip you're gonna have. This one was a good one he said. I reckon his 'good' is my 'utterly brilliant'.