Red Bluff Bay, Baranoff Island, June 17-18, 2012: Bears and More Bears

It’s called Red Bluff for a reason – red granite walls line the bay entrance and then give way to dark green evergreens covering the mountains with a necklace of lime green deciduous foliage at the water’s edge.  And waterfalls - waterfalls everywhere.  You can hear their roar and feel their spray as we cruise through the bay to the head where we are surrounded by snow marbled mountains, a rocky beach with, of course, bears.  Jim concludes that God must have tucked heaven into SE Alaska.

One of Many

We anchor here with five other boats –  it feels as crowded as Miami after being the only two boats anchored for the last five nights.  There are even other dogs here competing for Zippys business grounds. 

Jim Going for the Falls

Swimming in Front of the Bears

By the time we drop our hook, the sun comes out – not the Alaska “A sunny day is a light drizzle” kind of sun but the real lower 48 states kind.  It stays with us for the next two days and we take full advantage – we dinghy up the river, kayak to the biggest waterfall in the bay where Jim paddles straight up the falls and rides out the current and wind like a surfer dude – well… a 64 year-old grandpa surfer dude.

At low tide we kayak to the beach where the bears frolic and we get within 150 yards of them – of course, I stay behind Gay, Wyman and Jim just in case…we have seen them swimming and they are fast.  Zippy is captivated by the grizzlies, as are we.   One of the bears takes it’s paw and splashes another one with water in an attempt to get some fun action and they play like this for hours.

And I Have Hundreds
of  These Bear Butt Shots

Jim and Wyman  set out their crab and shrimp pots – Wyman caught 88 shrimp the first night.  Jim caught two very large sun stars that did not want to leave the crab pots.  I guess instead of Red Bluff Bay Shrimp, we’ll be eating Costco Cove Chicken.

Not Dinner