My Grizzly Photo Safari started off with the same type of drama that seems to be my M.O. now a days. Missed the YVR shuttle because I stopped to get Starbucks in the AM, got dropped at the wrong terminal causing me to run full out to my gate; due to workload, stress & cost, I had to cut the days of the trip & tour down from the original 7days I originally booked to only 2 SO this once-in-a-lifetime wildlife experience quickly was becoming an adventure of nothing but stress & panic from hour one! uugghh

After finally arriving at the gate, and boarding just in the nick of time, THIS was my view the entire time up to Prince Rupert. Yes she is cute, but can’t she feel my disdain for children…. and irritation with being disturbed. UUgghh!!

I then leave the small plane from YVR, board an even smaller plane in Price Rupert and get on the boat that takes us up the coast in alignment with Alaska.  The boat was great with an upper deck with the ‘bridge’ and loads of privacy… actually I didn’t know I was supposed to be downstairs on the passenger level, with all the other passengers…oops! (but really, you don’t think they meant that rule for ME, do you???lol!!?)

But then, on the 2 hrs up the coast, I fell madly in love… no silly, not with some sexy captain, or even a rugged seaman on board or a foreign traveler to our lovely land but with this massive stunning lens… ohhh man, isn’t it hot!??!!! Literally felt my heart go pitter patter…lol

This sexy piece of Canon brilliant technology caught my eye early on and wouldn’t let up the whole trip. Finally I had to say something to the owner about my ‘equipment envy’… then because the universe was smiling on me today, he offered to let me use it and attach it to my own camera!! OMG… heavenly… and came home trying to justify this $12,000.oo purchase… hahaha

And of course, the reason why I wanted to use that insane lens, was for little baby grizzly cub treasures like this lil one… here he is cutely growling at ‘something’ in the grass. He was attempting to be intimidating… it was adorable.

Here’s another lil one making his way over a mossy log… the scenery was stellar but look at his claws (click to enlarge image) – holy crapola. But look at that shot, handsome bear cub, mossy fallen tree, the black beach rocks and the reflective water. Oh man, I really want this lens.

This was a momma bear who was letting her lil one know that he was getting too far away… yep, I wouldn’t argue with her either. He immediately came running back. This is my favorite thing to do while witnessing wildlife in their natural habitat… just sit back and watch them do their thing. In my opinion, the boat moved on too quickly from one group of bears to another… I understand that that’s what people pay for …see lots of GRIZZLIES… but I, for one, would be sssoo content to just sit for a few mins with one group to watch behaviors, interactions, reactions, etc…

Here is that same momma bear again, feeling much better about the situation clearly. But always keeping a motherly watch on him…

BTW this is sedge grass… total protein based and they love it after hibernating… interesting, I thought.

So as we were heading in, we passed this small island filled with sea lions… as the boat approached though, all the seals darted into the water… this one and a smattering of others stayed behind, of which I was very grateful… look at those eyes!! I love sea lions and can’t wait til next week when I am sea kayaking with the orcas because I assume there will be tons of sea lions too. I understand though that seeing sea lions in the open water when you are kayaking is not always a good thing… they can be quite dangerous, but again, I am sure that rule, doesn’t apply to me either.

On the 2nd day, the boys do this bizarre cawing into a microphone and throw clams and raw chum-like stuff off the deck for the eagles… well, the eagles are totally game for this little show because man, did they perform. At one point, I counted 23 eagles circling, diving and battling for the food… it was an awesome sight.

This is the fine line with photography, especially since I really don’t have any skill for it. I simply point and shoot. With the eagles – do I pull the lens back so I can get the whole bird with his full wing span in the shot or stay zoomed in so we can see some of the details of his feathers, claws etc… uugghh oohh, the struggle…teeheehee so that’s why I just keep clicking.

I loved this guy, because you can tell he is solely focused on his mission of getting FOOD!! It was all vry primal to watch and just AWESOME!

Of course, there were a million more shots and think I posted most of them on Flickr but wanted to share a couple here too and tell you about the experience.

It was good for the most part, but definitely NOT enough time with the bears… think next time I will do one of the sleep-over multi-night packages and also one with a view platform where I can sit for as long as I want. (Remember the watering hole in Africa, right outside my bedroom and how I spent the whole night out there watching… and watching and listening… it was MAGIC)
The boat was gorgeous and huge and the crew were amazing. I really appreciated the few little nature talks they did as well about the region and the bears themselves… that was interesting.
The food.. once again, I am choosing not to mention…lol – oh well, whatever you aren’t there for the food… my mantra for every single trip/adventure/excursion I take 🙂

So that was my June adventure … can’t wait to spend time with the Orca whales next month.

Thx for checking in and reading about my little getaways,
Hugs, Carole