Perfect lunch date Homer, AK

Homer, AK

We started the morning with a quick stop at the Boardwalk Bakery for breakfast and boxed lunches for our trip to Katmai.  Yummy! A friend of the sisters was visiting from Flagler Beach, Florida (close to all my Daytona friends!)

Then we headed to the Alaska Bear Adventures / K Bay Air Hanger for our bear viewing trip. We signed our releases, were issued our flotation devices and also some ultra cool hip waders. I have now added waders to my 2012 Christmas wish list and wonder how I have gotten through life thus far without them! After a brief flight safety talk, we headed out to the planes. LJ and I were on two separate planes – I was in a plane flown by the owner, Michael, as well as two couples, one from Israel and I never was able to find out where the other couple was from as we had some communication issues. I was a bit worried though, when the wife of the second couple kept her eyes shut and her hand firmly clenching the handle 90% of the plane ride. LJ was with Aex, a Colorado native who was in his first season working for ABA, as well as two other men, one originally from Massachusetts (small world!). The third plane was a family of five, including a little girl age four and half!

Needless to say these six seater planes were on the small side but an amazing and breathtaking flight over the water, with snow capped mountains to one side, volcanoes on another, and flying over a glacier near the end of the trip over. He teased us a little by flying over an area where we could see three different bears walking and eating, just to get us excited over what was to come.

We landed directly on a beach in Katmai National Park. We unloaded and prepared for the adventure, but necessities first, a quick look over the hill for bears and then ladies over the hill to the ‘ladies room’ and guys to the beach. LJ and my plane were put together with Aex as our guide and the other family of five stayed with their pilot and guide. Off we go! We were to stay in a single file line behind the guide and when we approached a bear, to kneel on one knee, thus decreasing any threat the bear felt with our presence. If he were to get aggressive the guide would stand and approach him, if he continued, we would all rise and approrach – repeat after me: do not run, do not run, do not run.

The salmon had not arrived in the rivers there yet so the bears were mainly eating sedge grass and taking it easy. Female bears weigh between 200 to 800 lbs, and male’s range in size from 300 to 1500 lbs. We saw three that were very large, approximately 900-1100 lbs per our guide. It’s somewhat surreal to see them in this environment, realizing they are only yards away but they are content eating the grass and allowing you to watch and photograph them with no problem at all. It was adrenaline filled and stress reducing all at the same time.

Our group was an eclectic mix. We had an older gentleman that definitely struggled with the terrain, while it was mostly flat there was lots of mud, shallow river crossings, and grassy fields with some uneven terrain. We were told to expect to walk four miles in all. Then we had another couple who kept stopping at will to take photos and videos. Even with our guides reminders to stay together in a single file line. Before you ask – no this couple was not us! L.J. was very good at following the rules! It’s hard to think that when you’re in an environment like that you would still push the limits, finally our guide had to move them to the start of the line (what I considered the bear viewing version of “time-out”, haha).

We saw probably 12 bears before it was time for lunch. A perfect log, right in front of two bears munching away, and this was our lunch spot. So, as we had our turkey sandwiches (no fish allowed!), the bears had their sedge grass, and I sat there thinking of lunch with friends or family… and then this and… wow – no offense, but this was completely amazing! I was having lunch with coastal grizzlies in Katmai! Woo-hoo! After lunch we got to try some of the bears sedge grass – pretty tasty and we saw a few more bears and then it was time to head back, down our beach runway, over the water and to Homer… and sunshine!

The sunshine gave us renewed energy so we dropped our stuff at the B&B, changed clothes and off we went. This time to the overlook as you enter Homer, then to Skyline Drive to drive down the ridgeline overlooking the water. I was the driver, LJ the navigator. Kathy, the owner of the B&B had told us about a Russian Orthodox population that lives ‘where the flattop ends’ literally and that it was interesting but they ‘drive crazy’. Off we went! They definitely didn’t worry about speed limits and we saw some ladies out walking a baby in a stroller dressed in traditional outfits which was very interesting, then near the end we had some beautiful views of the end of the Bay. We came back and went to Fat Olive’s for dinner. By this time, the day was catching up with me and after waiting for a table we actually ended up also waiting over an hour for our dinner to arrive. I think somewhere between a few larger parties our order was lost so we ended up with free dinner (without even complaining), which was very tasty, and just left our server with a sizable tip. I had the shrimp and scallop skewer, LJ a baked pasta dish – yum!

I literally was falling asleep and so we came back and I tried to blog, my saved post was lost when the internet disconnected so I gave up and went to bed by 9:30. LJ stayed up until midnight downloading photos and videos, which is great because now I can share them with you! Day two… phenomenal!