I usually get up between 4:30 and 5:00 am. Today when I got up I noticed that the captain was maneuvering quite a bit which means one thing: Whales! I grabbed my camera and ran up to the bridge and sure enough, the first mate was chasing whales. I went out on the starboard bridge wing and started shooting. I was rewarded with today's picture. We had another whale encounter just after dinner, and this time everybody was out watching and shooting pictures. There were over a dozen of these creatures feeding which made for a target rich environment. The problem was keeping a lookout and responding quickly when one came to the surface. A circle of bubbles was sometimes an indicator. Anyway, between low light and our inexperience, we did a lot of shooting with very few usable frames. It was a learning experience and I am ready to have another go at it. So is Ginny.

We had beautiful weather and spent the day in Hobart Bay. There were four activities arranged and we divided into groups. My favorite was driving around the old logging roads in an RTV (rough terrain vehicle). The RTVs they had were Kawasaki Mules, which is exactly what Ginny's dad has on the farm We were familiar with them and had a very enjoyable ride.

Second, we went kayaking. As we rounded a small point a few hundred yards from the boat, we say a group fo five black bears feeding in the grass along the shore. We stopped for quite a while to watch them before they went into the forest and we proceeded on. We went out to a small island which was pretty neat. It was something the glaciers left behind. The day continued warm and sunny.

Next we had a ride in the inflatable boat. The operator took us across the bay where we had a chance to see some harbor seals which was pretty neat. They were pretty stand-offish, but we had fun just watching them watching us.

The last shore activity of the day was a hike to a very nice overlook that was led by the captain. It was interesting to hear about the land and the Native corporations that control it. We spent some time looking out to the channel where we would have a great whale watching opportunity as described in the first paragraph.