This morning was tough psychologically. We were up at 7am after only 6 hours sleep. I somehow expected that we’d done the hard work by paddling 14 hours yesterday and our 15 miles today would be easier. In fact the headwind combined with a messy 3-4 foot sea state and some unhelpful current meant it took us 3 and a half hours to cross a 6 mile Bay. We were both feeling tired and a bit sore around the edges. Only the knowledge that the weather is due to be stormy tomorrow and the thought of hot showers, “real food”, company and the chance to see bears up close with a guide spurred us on to keep paddling. We finally pulled up at the beach in front of the camp at 5.30 and were excited to see camp manager Brad appear through the undergrowth. Our kayaks and kit were carried up to camp and we had a wonderful hot shower followed by roast beef, salad, blueberry pie and cookies! It was great to chat to the guides and some of the other people here including a BBC film crew who said thi s is
the best place to come and film grizzly bears as they have never been hunted by man and they don’t associate man with food so they don’t mind people watching them. So we are really excited to get the chance to go out tomorrow and hopefully see some bears at close range catching Salmon or going about their other daily business. People can fly here from Homer for the day or several days. We’re staying in one of several weather ports, a cosy PVC pod on a metal frame which gets striped down in the winter. It’s time for bed as breakfast is at 7am! How exciting.