Video: Kukak Bay

18-19 August

A Stroll on the Mudflats

Thursday, 19 August: Part II

Instead of going to a beach and sitting down to watch bears immediately, we did something different this morning — we walked across the mudflats to get to our bear-viewing site. It was a welcome opportunity to squeeze some exercise into our day. Not only that, the walk gave us a better feel for the land the bears call home.

Lee drops us off at the beach on the other side of these rocks.

as Eberhard leads us off, i stop to photograph the scenery Looking
out from our landing site.

We started to follow Eberhard, but didn’t make it far when a pair of bald eagles on a nearby cliff caught our attention. As we hurried to get our cameras out of our wet-bags, one of them flew off. I managed to catch a shot or two as the second one took off to follow its mate.

Ever majestic!

The mud was slippery, sucking at our wading shoes, as though trying to stop us from venturing forward. Undaunted, we hooked arms and sallied forth, making frequent stops along the way to photograph the breathtaking scenery.

How can we not stop to enjoy scenery like this?

You know I’m a sucker for reflections; is it any
surprise that I stopped to take a photograph at this pond!

We made our way across the mudflats, wandering through waist-high grasses along the way. We made sure to make plenty of noise so that we wouldn’t surprise any bears that might be hidden from our view. There were signs of bears everywhere, but we didn’t have any close encounters of the bear kind.

Paw prints and fresh scat … good indications that there are bears in the area.

no bears, but we see a juvenile bald eagle. It is so well camouflaged
that we can barely tell he’s facing our way.

We’ve been wading ashore from the skiff since our first day on the Katmai Peninsula. And we’ve certainly waded across some shallow streams in order to reach our bear-viewing spots. But this outing found us fording a swift-moving, deep creek. I was surprised at how strong the currents were. (And even more surprised when a salmon swam right between my feet; it’s a wonder I didn’t jump and land on my butt!) Shorty that I am, at one point, the water was well-past my knees. Arm-in-arm, Mui and I made it across without getting dunked.

This was an experience that has given me a new appreciation for what the salmon have to overcome in their upstream quest to reach their spawning grounds.

No, Mui, I’m not budging another inch until you get out here and give me your arm!

We were rewarded for our efforts by a bear that showed up at our viewing spot within minutes of our arrival.

The bear checks us out …

… and then crosses the stream and disappears.

Left: Why do we wear waders?
Right: so we can do crazy things like this!
(in this instance, mui’s taping salmon with his underwater camera.)

The sow with the triplet yearlings that we’d seen from a distance yesterday graced our presence for a while too. They munched on some grasses on the other side of the creek while the sow watched us carefully. Then, satisfied that we were no threat to her or her cubs, she crossed the creek and started her salmon vigil while her cubs looked on.

The sow keeps an eye on us …

… as do the cubs.

More courageous than his siblings, this cub dashes across the creek to join mom.

Once safely across the creek, the cubs wait for mom.

The sow returns from her fishing expedition, but she's nervous …

… about a boar that is approaching them.

When the boar gets too close, the sow jumps in to show him who’s boss.

The boar got the message and turned away, taking a roundabout way to get to the creek. In the meantime, the sow hustled the cubs back into the rocks and out of our view.

That was our signal to pack up and return to the Single Star. Admittedly, like yesterday afternoon, this morning was also slow as far as bear action was concerned. But we’re not disappointed that we came to Kukak Bay. We really enjoyed our walk across the mudflats. For a few hours, we were the only humans around to enjoy the spectacular landscape. And that was special.

Farewell Kukak Bay!

Bidding Kukak a fond farewell, we weighed anchor for our next destination.

Kukak Bay: How Many Ways Can You Shoot a Sunrise?

Thursday, 19 August: Part I

When we anchored in Kukak Bay yesterday, we had to do so a considerable distance from shore since it was low tide. Our ride to the beach, therefore, was longer than usual — not that we minded.

This morning, we woke up around 6:00a to the sound of the Single Star’s engines; Lee was repositioning the boat closer to shore. While he did that, we sat down to breakfast. Soon though there was something happening outside that had me scrambling topside with my camera. Yes, there were bears already on the beach, but my attention wasn’t on them … it was on the gorgeous sunrise that was bathing the scenery in pinks and lavenders, and purples and reds, and every hue in between.

Kukak Bay — 6:43a

Each setting of the camera, each turn of the zoom ring on the lens, each direction in which I looked … the colors changed. Some deeper; some brighter. The clouds looked like they were on fire astern of us; there was the hint of a rainbow in the brighter skies ahead of us. Then came the warm glow of the golden sunlight. Oh my!

Honest, I only meant to take a photo or two, but I simply couldn’t help myself; I kept clicking the shutter until all hint of color was gone.

Kukak Bay — 6:45a

Kukak Bay — 6:46a

Kukak Bay — 6:48a

Kukak Bay — 6:54a

Kukak Bay — 7:00a

Kukak Bay — 7:06a

Kukak Bay — 7:54a
all hint of color is gone … the spectacle is over.

With a spectacle like this to start our day, how could we miss … we put the cameras away and went inside to prepare for our morning with the bears.

Kukak Bay

Wednesday, 18 August: Part III

We left Geographic Harbor around 11:00a; destination: Kukak Bay. The Shelikof Strait, as Lee described it, was “blowing 25.” Conditions weren’t that bad really, but after being anchored in calm waters for two nights, the movement of the Single Star was decidedly noticeable.

Left: Kukak Bay is marked with a green star.
Right: Google map showing our anchorage in Kukak Bay.

By mid-afternoon, we were anchored in the bay and on our way to shore shortly thereafter. We set up on a gravel berm overlooking a shallow creek and settled down to wait for the bears to show up.

We’re all bundled up; it’s windy and a bit chilly here.

The only bear around is pretending to be a boulder!

waiting for the salmon to come in on the tide is boooring!

It was indeed a slow afternoon at Kukak Bay — both for the bears and for us. A few bears came by to see if there was anything of interest in the creek, but their visit was rather short. Obviously, we weren’t appealing enough to keep their attention for long (and that’s a good thing!). A couple of bears took naps nearby, rousing themselves briefly to look around before resuming their second favorite pastime. There was at least one sow with cubs, but the family remained in the distant rocks, looking a little nervous … maybe they had heard of the incident at Geographic Harbor!

Hello to you too.

A few more visitors to brighten up our day.

The bear behind Eberhard gets up and looks at us,
but doesn't come to visit.

Do you know what time the salmon will be here?

When this bear started digging in the mud after sniffing around
for a while, we were sure he was after a clam. We were wrong.
he was just scratching out a comfortable seat for himself.

While visiting with the only other person on the beach,
Eberhard has a close encounter of the bear kind.

Since the bears were not cooperating, I turned my attention to a Greater Yellowlegs wandering around nearby. I was afraid to scare the bird off as I inched my way down to the edge of the water, but my concern was for naught. It just went about its business as though I didn’t exist.

can you guess why this wading bird is called yellowlegs?

the bill of the greater yellowlegs is twice as long
as the diameter of its head.

After a while, concluding that the action wasn’t going to get much better, we called Lee to pick us up. The hot bouillabaisse that he and Lindsay had concocted for dinner was the perfect thing to warm us up after our rather chilly outing.

Our anchorage for the night.

Intriguing cloud formations at kukak bay.

It was a quiet afternoon for us. But you know, I welcomed the change of pace. After all the bear action at Geographic Harbor, it wasn’t so bad to just sit back and relax on the beach for a couple of hours. Now to get a good night’s rest!