It is a normal brief time at 9 and we learn that the film crew will be leaving today and the departure for the falls will occur at 11:00. It has been fun learning about the life of the film crew. Two of the members are from Bristol, England and one is from the Pacific North West. The Director of the film making process is Bertie Gregory. He is 29 years old and has been making nature films for the last 7 plus years. He is currently working for National Geographic and making a series of films for the Disney Plus channel. The series that premiered last year was called . Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory. This year the show is called Animals up close.
Bertie Gregory at work
The person in charge of the auditory is Spencer from the Pacific Northwest.
They will be heading to Antartica in March to film a show about Leopard Seals and Penquins.
When we told them that we had sailed to Antartica severals years ago on a small sailboat. They were curious about the name of the boat and then we discovered that they had chartered the boat that we had used. We showed them photos and gave some input of what to expect. That was a fun connection!
The last person on the film crew was Ryan from Bristol, England.. He was the technical guy and was in charge of the gear to make sure it was running properly. He also carried a lot of the gear that was used for filming. Alas I have no photo of Ryan.
Bertie was on his was to San Diego to promote his new series. When we told him that our son Ryan and his partner Beth lived there, he said that he would invite them to the promotional party. We were able to send Ryan a text message by our inreach and he and Beth attended the party. Small World!
By 11:00 we were packed and ready to hike to the falls. The tide was a little higher so hiking thru the lagoon was a bit more challenging. This may be the last day for walking thru the lagoon. It sounds like tomorrow we will be taking the longer route. The good news is that the boat will pick us up around 6.
It is beginning to feel like a great routine of spending the day watching bears. In the beginning of this adventure I felt like this was going to be a once in a life time experience, but now Don nor I are not too sure. I have a feeling that we will be putting our name in for a drawing once again in a couple of years.
It is another beautiful day at the falls. We have been told that bears show up later and getting there too early means less bears to observe.
We take a moment to admire the field of Iris.
And then it is back to the Falls to be impressed with fishing bears.
Gooby bear tries to see how close he can come to us without being yelled at. The next photo shows the return of the sow and two cubs who enjoy fishing below us.
Once the sow and cubs take up position, Gooby bear will no longer walk in front of us.
We are all excited when Gooby bear gets his first fish. This has been a big learning week for him.
Fishing and sleeping is the main activity for today.
Rocky, an older bear likes to sleep near the pad.
First he walks by and checks out the ground then it is time to sleep.
He sleeps for quite a while resting his claws by his face.
Meanwhile a bear is patiently waiting for a Chum to swim up the rock. I assumed that Chum jump, but was quickly told that no, Chum don’t jump, reds do. Oh well so what for that iconic photo of a fish being grabbed by a bear in mid air.
The next shots were the best I could do as I and the bear patiently waited for an unsuspecting fish.
Finally one appears swimming up the falls.
There is no hesitation as the bear goes after the fish!
One satisfied bear and one dead fish. So goes the cycle of life.
It is an early departure, but after having several late nights in a row, we are ready to return to camp. There also is the boat treat, that won’t happen if we wait longer. ( the tide has to be the right depth, wail to long and we will be walking.) Back to camp for dinner before 8 and to bed by 10. It has been another great day at the River. Not to mention the bears that we see hiking back and near the camp.