Bears!!



Pinks at the waterfall - there are a lot more than this now



The pink salmon are still coming in full force and the silvers are just starting to come so the creeks are full of salmon racing upstream.  The first salmon to arrive are now beginning to die off in the lakes and creek and the bears are beginning to make themselves visible as they continue to seek food to put on weight for the winter.  I finally got to see my first one a couple nights ago across the lagoon!  James (the school janitor and village store manager) and Mike have game cameras out at James' cabin looking for bears that they are checking every couple days.  Mike is beginning to get bear fever and is hoping for a chance at a large bear that keeps trying to get into a family's fish house just past the cabin.

Last night nearly everyone in the village could be seen on the road by the beach watching a rare event unfold.  A bear was on the reef - something no one has seen before.  They usually don't venture that far away from the lagoon on the ocean side of the village and there is only a small window of opportunity with low tide to even get on the reef.  We watched for quite a while as he piddled and wandered around on the reef.  I was concerned the tide would come back up and he would find himself trapped on the reef, but that apparently wasn't something to be concerned with.  Instead of following the reef back to the beach, he just walked into the water and swam back to land.  He had a bit of trouble swimming through a small section of kelp, but eventually made his was to land and took off around the corner - I'm assuming to hide his embarrassment from begging caught in such a predicament.

We also got a chance to taste our first seal!  It tastes like a cross between strong venison and strong fish.  It's a bit different in flavor but not at all bad.  We've also gotten to see a couple wolves and a coyote across the lagoon so the last couple days have been full of several exciting firsts for us.