Sunrise at Kukak Bay
Katmai Peninsula, Alaska (August 2010)
[author of quote: Anonymous]
Showing posts with label katmai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label katmai. Show all posts
Hallo Bay’s Arthritis Bear Finds a Home in Virginia
Wednesday, 1 December
Several weeks ago, I came home to a surprise. There was a tube mailer propped up against the garage door. I hadn’t ordered anything; nor had Mui (not to my knowledge, at least), so what could it be?
Imagine my delight when I opened the tube to find a canvas print of the Hallo Bay bear that we had dubbed “Arthritis Bear” because he seemed to have some difficulty walking.
Welcome to Virginia Arthritis Bear!
The print is a thank you from Captain Lee of the Single Star. Shortly after we returned from our bear viewing trip on the Single Star, Lee had asked if he could use some of my photographs for promotional purposes. It was my pleasure to share my images and I told him to take his pick; Arthritis Bear made the cut.
From my desk, I get to see Arthritis Bear all day.
There was no question in my mind that I’d be framing the print. Where to hang it was the dilemma. In the end, I decided to take it to my office at work so I could visit with Arthritis Bear all day long! Considering the long hours I’ve been putting in recently, I’m glad he’s been there to keep me company.
Photo op with my buddy!
Lee has a 120 x 96 inch (3 x 2½ meter) print of the photograph for the Single Star booth. Arthritis Bear has already been to one travel show; I understand he was very popular with the kids. Next, he’ll be traveling to London, England.
Not every bear can say that he’s an international traveler!
Wolves of the Sea
Friday, 20 August: Part II
Captain Nolan: Can you commit a sin against an animal?
Priest: Why, you can commit a sin against a blade of grass. Sins are really against oneself.
From the movie, “Orca”
The wolf on the beach at Hallo Bay may not have cooperated with us, but I sure can’t say the same thing about the Wolves of the Sea — better known as Orcas or Killer Whales.
Following a lunch of fish & chips, we left Hallo Bay around 1:30p and began the crossing back to Kodiak. The Shelikof Strait was being good to us, but there was enough movement to rock me asleep for a good portion of the crossing. I woke to Mui bursting into the stateroom to tell me that there were Orcas up ahead. I was up in an instant and on deck with my camera. Boy, oh boy; what I time we had!
Most people’s knowledge of this magnificent ocean creature comes from either movies, like Orca (NOT my favorite movie, by the way) and Free Willy, or from captive animals that perform in places like SeaWorld. That’s a shame really as nothing can hold a candle to seeing them in the wild.
Here they come!
Orcas are a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Though some feed on fish only, others hunt marine mammals such as seals and sea lions, and even whales. Very social animals, they travel in family pods that range from 2 to 75 animals; sometimes even more. Some of the pods are resident; they don’t travel far and wide, and they mostly feed on fish and squid. Others are transient; they are the hunters that tend to travel in very small groups. Still others are considered to be offshore populations; they travel in big groups. (For those who’d like more information, you can start with this link, which includes audio files of the vocalization of Orcas.)
At first I thought there were four Orcas in the waters around us, but looking back through my photos, what I thought was a fourth dorsal fin might have been a pectoral fin … I think; I’m still not sure.
What do you think? How many Orcas are in this picture ... 3 or 4?
In any event, we had a grand time with them. They swam around and under the boat, surfacing right next to us at times. They were playing with us; no doubt about it. One of them even graced us with a breach, throwing it’s body high out of the water and landing with a huge splash.
Any closer and this one would be in the boat with us.
I’m afraid I only caught the tail end of the breach.
(you can see the full breach here … good job Lindsay)
This one swam under the boat to surface next to me.
the black coloring in the white saddle patch around the dorsal fin is a
good indication that this orca is a member of a resident pod.
Bye, Bye!
So why, B&W and not color photos. I simply didn’t like all that blue sea as a background for these beautiful black and white creatures. That said, I did keep one color shot … it was the only way to show the pale rainbow effect in the blow.
This wasn’t our first encounter with the Wolves of the Sea; but this one was the best.
A Glorious Morning at Hallo Bay
Friday, 20 August: Part I
We had one more morning to sit with the bears before we began our return trip to Kodiak. Wanting to make the most of that time, we were up and about by 6:00a. We hurried through the blueberry pancakes Lindsay had prepared for breakfast and headed to shore.
The horizon is trimmed in crimson as the sun rises.
The mountains are bathed in the soft light of morning.
Our morning got off to a good start. What would have made it great? If the wolf sprinting across the beach had waited to show up after we were already ashore. The rising sun was like a spotlight and the wolf was literally glowing against the brown-sand beach. As we were still wading ashore at the time, my camera gear was still tucked away in the wet-bag. I’ll have to be content with the image recorded in my memory banks … let’s hope it survives the passage of time.
There were plenty of bears on the mudflats already; all waiting for the salmon to come in on the turn of the tide. We decided to set up on the mudflats too. The light was golden; the skies were blue. It was a perfect morning to get my reflection fix.
Double the viewing pleasure.
Arthritis Bear snoozes in the warm sun …
… but he is quite aware of our presence.
Let me explain about Arthritis Bear. When this big boar finally got up, it was quickly apparent that he was having a difficult time walking. His gait was slow, and he seemed to be staggering and swaying as he made his way across the mudflats. There were no apparent wounds, so I can only assume that his difficulties were age-related; the moniker seemed fitting. That said, he seemed to be in good shape, so he was obviously not having any problems fending for himself.
A memento of our visit with Arthritis Bear!
[photo courtesy of Lindsay]
Keeping company on the mudflats.
But Mom, I wanna play!
Curious Cub!
Family Portrait
It was a mostly peaceful morning, but one of the sows and her twins did give us a thrill or two. They were off in the distance, coming steadily our way, so we just sat and watched them. At first the sow and the cubs were walking together. As they got closer to us, however, the distance between them grew. By the time they had reached us, we were literally between the sow and the cubs.
I have to admit there was an “oh, oh!” thought that went through my head at that moment. It’s really not a good idea to get between a sow and her cubs. But the sow was very relaxed and didn’t seem to mind since we were not the ones initiating the contact. We stayed calm, quiet, and seated; with Eberhard ready to scare off the sow if necessary. It wasn’t. She patiently waited for the cubs to sniff around us before hustling them off. Perhaps she was teaching them to recognize the two-legged creatures that come to visit every once in a while. It was an experience that is indelibly etched into my brain!
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Left: “Mirror, mirror on the mud; tell me who’s the fairest bear of all!”
Right: Like mother, like cubs!
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Closer and Closer!
We didn’t just do bear-watching on the mudflats this morning; we did some people-watching too. Although there were no other boats anchored in Hallo Bay, three small aircraft did fly in and land on the narrow beach. After deplaning, the passengers gathered, shoulder-to-shoulder, and walked the length of the beach before disappearing from view. I was surprised that they would leave behind the easy bear-viewing we were enjoying. But hey, no complaints from us; we liked having the mudflats to ourselves.
A fly-in trip is another option for bear-viewing.
After about two hours, the bears started moving off the mudflats; fishing time was at hand. We followed, but decided to stay on our side of the creek so as not to risk getting stranded as the tide continued to come in. Finding a high spot from which to watch the action, we enjoyed one last hour with these magnificent creatures.
Our high perch gives us a different perspective …
… of the bear action.
I like the contrast of the sun-bleached driftwood against the sand and sky.
And so our long-awaited bear-viewing trip came to a close at Hallo Bay. It was fantastic; it was glorious. It exceeded our expectations in every imaginable way; and in some unimaginable ways, too. We experienced thrills; we experienced chills; we experienced quiet, peaceful moments. We made memories to last a lifetime.
I’ll leave you with one last bear photograph. It’s probably not an image that would speak to most, but it spoke to me.
Sparkle Bear
Bracing for what the Shelikof Strait might have in store for us, we left Hallo Bay to begin our crossing back to Kodiak.
Hallo Bay in B&W
Thursday, 19 August: Part IV
Light conditions to shoot the magnificent glacier-mountain scenery of Hallo Bay was not optimum this afternoon. Which explains why there are so few photographs of the place in the previous blog entry.
As I often do when I am not happy with color photos, I tried a black and white treatment to see if I could save a few images. I like the results; I hope you do to.
Magnificent Hallo Bay
Thursday, 19 August: Part III
If you were hoping to see photos of bears in this blog entry, I am afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you. You see, there were no bears this afternoon — at least not in our immediate vicinity. But I hope the scenery will make up for it.
Shortly after 2:00p, we were once again in the Shelikof Strait, this time motoring to Hallo Bay.
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Left: Hallo Bay is marked with a red star.
Right: Google map showing our anchorage at Hallo Bay.
We leave Kukak Bay behind for …
… magnificent Hallo Bay.
The Shelikof was once again a bit choppy, but not bad really. We didn’t have far to go anyway … just enough time to enjoy wraps for lunch; review our photos and videos; enjoy a wildlife sighting en route; and perhaps take a short nap.
Crossing the Shelikof, the Single Star rocks Mui to sleep.
it’s Not easy photographing harbor seals on their rocky haulout when the
boat is bobbing ... but i manage.
As you can see from the map above, Hallo Bay is quite wide and open to the elements. So, it was no surprise that the silt-laden water at our anchorage was rather choppy; or that our ride to shore was “bouncy!” Sitting on the bow of the skiff, with my back to the water, I was hit by the brunt of the waves; but the rest of the gang didn’t fare much better. At least I wasn’t getting a facefull of water as the skiff pitched across the bay! Our wetgear and waders, however, held up under the onslaught of water and we were still dry and warm when we arrived at our landing spot.
Welcome to Hallo Bay!
Detail from the mudflats we cross to reach the beach.
I have to say that of all of our landing sites, this was the one that took my breath away. In one direction, blue-green waters came ashore in wavelets. In another direction, glacier-covered mountains provided a spectacular backdrop to the brown-sand beach. In yet another direction, sun-bleached driftwood littered the beach and grass fields as far as the eye could see. Set against blue skies and green grasses starting to turn yellow, the scenery was to-die-for beautiful.
You want driftwood? You got driftwood!
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Left: Hey Mui, check out that plastic float.
Right: swirls and gnarls.
Eberhard led us across grass fields, fording streams and un-sticking wader shoes along the way, to a rise on the far side of our landing spot. Here we sat for the next two hours, waiting for the bears, and maybe a wolf or two, to show up. We were out of luck. The bears stayed on the far, far, far side; as did a couple of eagles that were mere dots in the trees on the far, far, far side. There was no wildlife anywhere near us. Except, that is, for gnat-like flies that swirled about us. (This was the only time during our trip that we had to resort to the bug dope we’d brought with us.)
“Two to Travel” has to have a Hallo Bay photo op.
(photo courtesy of Lindsay)
We could have moved around and looked for bears elsewhere, I suppose. But we were quite content where we were, just enjoying the scenery and the warm afternoon ashore. Around 7:00p, we called it a day and radioed Lee to pick us up.
At high tide there’s but a narrow strip of beach here.
We have to wade through this water to get back to the skiff.
So, today wasn’t a great “bear” day. What can I say. Wildlife is just that — wild; they don’t show up on cue. We knew there was a chance there would be days like this one. That’s one of the reasons why we booked a 7-day trip versus the more common 5-day trip. I’m just glad that our first few days were filled with bears. Now, we don’t have to worry about whether we’re going to see any bears. We can enjoy a day like this for what it is — an opportunity to relax and enjoy ourselves in one of the most beautiful parts of the world.
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