It's always so tempting to ignore the alarm at 5am but when we make the effort we are rewarded with a few hours of magical calm paddling. Under a pink sky, we paddled in rippled mercury, past jagged peaks glowing red and golden. Around us birds of all shapes and sizes chattered away and otters gazed warily at us as we glided by. One otter was fast asleep on his back with just his blonde face and his little paws poking out above the water. I mistook him for Bull keep but Sarah spotted him. We drifted close before he finally sensed us, and he suddenly jerked his head and his two front paws up like he was surrendering. He looked at us for a few seconds before disappearing under the surface.

A breeze picked up about 9am - northerly instead of the forecast NW so it was a headwind. It was 10 knots by the time we started crossing our 2nd Bay and 20 knots by the end. The 4 miles took us almost 2 hours. We continued on along a craggy coastline with low conglomerate cliffs eroded into caves, arches and spires. Behind them, grassy flanks rose up to bare mountains, a few snowy peaks and a minty Blue glacier.

We spotted a fox trotting along a cliff top, it's majestic red coat glowing in the sun.

"No way", Sarah suddenly called with an excited lilt. I followed her gaze and saw a honey coloured mound of fur lying on the grass at the edge of the cliff. As we watched, the bear stood up and walked a few steps to the right revealing a tiny darker Brown little bear. The baby bear also stood up and moved slightly revealing another cute little face, and then another.

"There are three of them", Sarah mouthed with an excited grin. It really was special. The wind was whistling offshore and we were confident the bears wouldn't hear or smell us. We watched them baking in the sun for a bit longer before carrying on with big smiles.

We paddled on until we reached the brink of the next large bay. Rather than take on the 20-30 knot gusts, we finished early and camped on a small sandy beach with views of sculpted headlands, craggy mountains and a grassy valley dotted with ponds. It was really hot out of the wind and I enjoyed an afternoon snooze in the sun.

I always feel that if you paddle enough hours in beautiful wild places then you'll enjoy some great moments. Today was a case in point of that for me!