We have been blessed to see an amazing array of wildlife this season. There were the things we had hoped to see – like the eagles, whales and bears. And then there were the things that surprised us – like the deer swimming across the channel in Zimovia Narrows and again in Kazaan Bay, and the seal pups on the ice bergs in Tracy Arm at Sawyer Glacier.

Coming down Petrel Channel I saw something swimming across the channel in front of us. I alerted Cindy and said it isn’t a seal – it looks like a dog! She quickly grabbed the binoculars (or goggles as she likes to call them!) and stared at the object swimming in the water up in front of us, saying that if it is a dog we will need to rescue it. I started thinking about how we would affect the rescue (dog overboard drill), since we were motor-sailing with the jib out in 15kts of wind that had just come up. Suddenly she dropped the goggles and said “that is no dog – it is a bear!” I quickly grabbed the binoculars and sure enough, it was a bear – not a dog – doing the dog paddle across the channel. As we got closer and passed the bear it kept a close eye on us, looking over its shoulder.

Needless to say, I suspended the bear overboard drill, and kept moving down the channel.