Ever since our first trip to Alaska in June 2001, we've been hoping to make a return visit. We had to wait until August 2010, but it was oh so worth it. Our 13-day trip started in Kodiak; continued with a boat trip to the Katmai Peninsula to spend time with the brown bears fishing the streams; and included time in Seward and Anchorage, where we visited some favorites from 2001 and explored some new places that have now expanded that favorites list.
We returned with thousands of photographs and many hours of video. Our days were so full that I didn't have much time to work on my blog during the trip, but I am slowly catching up.
If you'd like to read the story of our trip, I've gotten as far as our departure from Kodiak ... we're on our way to see the bears 
. Start with the post I've linked below, or simply select posts from the archive in the sidebar on the right side of the blog.
http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2010/08/two-to-travel-returns-to-alaska.html
Coastal Bears of Katmai ... and so much more
Recent Activity
View all United States activity »
- 1 Yosemite Falls Lodge in the park or Cedar Lodge w/ budget constraints
- 2 Boston Area College Tour
- 3 How far ahead to book Alcatraz?
- 4 What to do with extra day in Virginia?
- 5 Oregon & Washington: What are we missing, as we're big fans already?
- 6
First-time to NYC Trip Report as promised!
- 7 build a nice website
- 8 Red Leather Sofa
- 9 San Francisco - one semi-splurge restaurant?
- 10 Albuquerque to Denver
- 11 Seattle restaurant near Pikes Market
- 12 San Fran, Napa, Palo Alto, Carmel advice
- 13 WHERE TO STAY FOR PROPOSAL WEEKEND IN FREDRICKSBURG
- 14 Omni Hotel, San Francisco - Did I make a good choice
- 15 Zion vs Bryce - How many days each?
- 16 Using public transit in San Diego
- 17 Williamsburg VA
- 18 Finally, seeing the Outer Banks
- 19
A Visit to Charleston
- 20
Restos in Boca Raton
- 21
Rocks and Roads in Utah
- 22 Just saw the Book of Mormon in Chicago ! Can we talk about it
- 23 What to see/do from north Texas area to SD (Mt. Rushmore area)
- 24 Southern Utah and GC Trip Cont.- Itinerary Help
- 25 Memorial day weekend drivable getaway from Jersey City, NJ
We've had some family emergencies that have delayed video editing, but we've now got two pieces posted on Vimeo ...
On the Way to Katmai ... http://vimeo.com/16359828
Geographic Harbor (first morning and second day) ... http://vimeo.com/15932039
More to come ...
I just noticed this and wanted to top it for folks who haven't seen your blog. The pictures are gorgeous!
bookmarking!!
Watching the bears in the streams and waterfalls at Katmai NP is one of our all time best travel memories.Thanks for sharing..
Just saw this. Hope you have fully recovered from the emergencies. In addition to the bears, you have some excellent whale shots. Can you remind me of your itinerary with Lee?
Thanks all for the comments ... it was a terrific trip and we had a spectacular time with the bears. Doing the blog was a great way to keep the memories alive ... now and in the future. I have a few more videos from the second half of our trip to put up ... hopefully starting later today. The videos are in the November and December archives of the blog, or you can see them on Vimeo.
Lynn, we opted to book a 7-day trip (2 of which were for the crossing to/from the Shelikof, leaving us with 5 days with the bears). Since we picked a photo-specific cruise, the max passengers would have been 4, but no one else booked, so we had the Single Star to ourselves. Itinerary ... we played by ear ... it was our choice to stay where we wanted for how long; Lee gave us some recommendations and since they matched areas that we were interested in we just put ourselves in his hands. We visited Geographic Harbor (two nights), Kukak Bay, and Hallo Bay.
On the crossings to/from Shelikof what did you see? Were you mainly in open water or hugging the coast? Was it one day over and one day back equaling 2 days?
It's straight across ... not a full day, but the length of the crossing would be determined by your starting point on Katmai/Kodiak and the sea conditions ... I'd guess that it took us about half a day or so (with what I would call moderate seas, but most would consider pretty bumpy). Our return leg from Hallo Bay back to Kodiak was longer than crossing over to Geographic Harbor at the front end of the trip.
If I recall correctly, we were still in the Shelikof when we encountered the orcas ... it was a great sighting with the orcas playing with us and one even breaching. Lee mentioned that it's possible to see other types of whales and porpoises as well. As you know, it's all luck of the draw when it comes to wildlife.
Thanks for all the additional info EEnusa. Orca playmates, very fortunate.