I continue to be way behind on blogging, but we continue to be busy exploring and working on projects. The good news is that there’s plenty to share – so far it has been a great summer.

In late May we spent a few days in Red Bluff Bay, on the eastern shore of Baranof Island, because there’s a terrific “bear meadow” that usually has some brown bears eating sedges (a type of grass) at that time of the year. Early wildflowers, like the shooting stars above, are also in bloom, adding to the beauty of the place.

As soon as the anchor was set, I was in the kayak with cameras, and I spotted the four-legged furry things that I love to watch…

The photo above shows typical bear behavior – they’re always scanning to see what’s going on around them, ever watchful for a more dominant bear or a threat. This bear paid particular attention to one area in the nearby forest, though nothing scary ever emerged.

Late one afternoon, two sub-adult bears were eating grass and playing on a shoal, and wrestled and interacted as they swam across to the main meadow – fun to watch since bears are solitary more often than not.

A lone trumpeter swan was in residence, odd to see one this late in the spring since most have migrated farther north by now.

Mergansers are usually pretty shy, but these two let me get fairly close.

As we made our way up to Glacier Bay, we spent a few nights in some favorite anchorages along the way, and finally got to see some good whale action on our way into an anchorage one afternoon. It was a good-sized pod of humpbacks bubble-net feeding!

We watched them through binoculars for a while as we slowed our approach to the anchorage, but the food they were following kept moving them farther away. So that is the end of this tale (tail)… for now…

Next up is Glacier Bay, which never disappoints!