Geographic Harbor is 150-miles from Homer and will involve a flight of about 90-minutes. After donning thigh-length waders, we board the de Havilland Otter floatplane and take-off from Beluga Lake.

It is a lovely sunny day, with only light cloud, and there is good visibility of the coastal mountains to port and the open water to starboard as we cross Cook Inlet.

 

The plane makes slow and noisy progress as we follow the coast of the Alaska Peninsula. The mountains on this land mass vary in height, but many are snow-covered, and there are a number of glaciers emanating from the Aleutian Range.

We gradually descend to a coastal area of bays, inlets, tree-covered hills, and the very green water of the Shelikof Strait. After crossing tree-covered ridges, the Otter banks right to land in Geographic Harbor.

Homer. 

A small skiff meets the Otter and transports its nine passengers to the Coastal Explorer, a launch moored in Geographic Harbor to provide us with a comfort break, and the opportunity to don extra clothes if required. The clear skies of Homer have been replaced with a layer of clouds that has reduced the quality of light considerably. The skiff carries us close inshore and we get our waders wet as we make our way to the sage grass bank of a stream. Some simple folding seats provide a degree of comfort as we await the appearance of the bears.

 

Our first sighting is two youngsters playing a short distance away. Then a 12 to 14-year old comes right past us chasing fish through the water. As we quietly sit waiting for more bears to appear, there is a loud bang, followed immediately by an earth tremor. We have experienced a small earthquake!

 

Another couple of individual bears appear and fish directly in front of us - apparently completely oblivious to our presence, although we are only a few yards away. 

We have an extensive period of rain which coincides with a pause in the bear sightings. The weather then improves to be dry, warmer, and partly sunny. However, we are plagued by myriads of flies, although Jeanette's umbrella provides good protection.

 

The bears continue to provide us with an excellent and thrilling spectacle as they attempt to catch the salmon swimming in the river just before us. The expertise of the bears varies considerably - there are less of them present than we saw at Pack Creek, but they are unbelievably close, providing the opportunity for good photographs, even though the light is poor.