This is the boat we were on while photographing Coastal Brown Bears in Katmai National Park in Alaska last month. It had formerly been used in the clamming industry but now had a couple of small cabins with shared baths, very spartan but clean, as well as a very good kitchen/dining room. We would take a skiff from the boat to the shore and find bears in meadows eating sedge or on the beaches digging for clams. Often there were sows with cubs. There are high tides (up to around 20 feet) so at low tide, getting from the skiff to shore was hard wading through water long distances from shore up to our hips and mud like quicksand, then high wet grass with rocks and driftwood. All this with multiple warm layers of clothing, full waders and heavy boots and carrying camera bags and small stools to sit on. I hadn't realized how difficult this would be when I booked the trip as I had just turned 82. I fortunately had a lot of help making it through the water by the naturalist who accompanied us.
