Close encounter of the bear kind

Some days you get bear. Some days the bear gets you. And some days, you’re just lucky.

Grizzly opens wide to snag a salmon from atop Brooks Falls

My bear encounter of the close kind lasted seconds. It ended as fast as it started.

Nothing happened. But it could have been so much worse.

Everyone who visits Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park goes to bear school. There you learn that visitors can encounter bears anywhere at any time.

Tourists are instructed to give bears a wide berth, staying at least 50 yards away. Making noise when walking the trails is encouraged. Running away if one happens upon a bear is heartily discouraged.

Of course, getting between a sow and her cub(s) is definitely to be avoided.

Because of bear activity in the area, early one morning I was the last person across the bridge over an estuary that leads to the Lower River viewing platform en route to the famous falls.

This was no quick closure because a bear was nearby. No one else crossed the bridge for nearly five hours.

Mama leads her three cubs across the Brooks River in search of a salmon snack

When the waiting hordes were finally released, it was time to leave the viewing area at the falls. Large noisy, excited groups passed by as I headed back to the lodge and visitor center area.

Cameras, with the iconic shot of a grizzly snagging a leaping fish from atop the falls, were packed away from the intermittent rain falling that day.



Then just as quickly, there was no else on the trail. Suddenly a juvenile grizzly, what the rangers call a sub-adult, gamboled down a side trail behind me.



The bear was as startled as I was. He (she?) apparently didn’t know about the 50-yard rule, stopping about 30 feet away.

We looked at each other. Before I could even waive my arms or shout “Whoa bear!” the ursine took off, running away from me.

No harm. No foul.

But the youngster could have just as easily come running off the side trail toward me. I could have been five seconds late and we would have collided.

Worse, Mama and a brother or sister could have been trailing behind. Human between sow and cub would have happened in a split second.

It didn’t. I wasn’t a news item — just a happy bear photographer with the photo that was the purpose of the trip.

A trip to Brooks Falls is well worth it. Be sure to visit more than just one day. My first day was so-so. The second magical.

Whatever you do, pay attention to the ranger teaching bear school.

Close encounters of the bear kind are a real possibility.

Tale of the whale

 

 

When it comes to capturing a photo of a breeching whale, I am like the Man of La Mancha — so far it’s been an impossible dream.

But all is not lost. Along the way a couple of memorable shots have made the quest rewarding nonetheless.

This time around it was definitely better to be lucky than good.

Captain Lani of Catamaran Kahanu (www.catamarankahanu.com) out of Port Allen on Kauai’s west coast took us out on a two-hour whale-watching excursion.

There’s a big difference between whale-watching and whale photography. For a two-hour tour, the catamaran was ideal. However, even though it was gorgeous clear day, the boat was good for watching but not very stable for folks with long telephoto lenses — aka me.

It was quickly apparent that a really active whale, willing to breech several times, was going to give me any chance of snapping a memorable photo.

That didn’t happen. Only a couple of whales decided to show themselves. Nothing very close. Nothing for a photography buff with a camera in one hand, holding the rail with another.

Then in an instant it all changed as Captain Lani pulled up behind a whale as I was standing on the side.

Poof. In an instant, the seas calmed. The boat stopped, and the rail was a thing of the past. I was in shooting mode.

Click. Click. Click. The tail came up and the whale was gone.

The preview showed a perfectly centered fluke. Whether it was in focus had to wait until we were back in Port Allen.

Voila. A beautiful humpback whale tale — flukes and all.

A couple of years ago, Capt. John Yeager of Alaska Charters & Adventures took us off the Wrangell Island in southwest Alaska.

A few whales came up for air, but no breeches and no tails. Yeager steered the Timber Wolf back to port.

Suddenly our dull day turned spectacular as we came upon two or three humpbacks bubble feeding right up against the rocks.

The boat was steady and the whales burst from beneath the surface arching on their backs, swallowing the herring hat were corralled by the bubbles.