KETCHIKAN, Alaska -- By the time I hopped on the bus for a bear-spotting excursion, I'd already had an incredibly satisfying day by my wildlife-viewing standards.
At Creek Street, under my bright-orange Holland America Line umbrella, I'd watched up to six or seven seals at a time diving and floating their way through the water, feasting on salmon. I couldn't get enough of that show, and the seals seemed more than happy to be the stars of it, practically posing for photos near the bridge as I attempted to balance my umbrella in one hand and my phone in the other to capture their adorable faces.
As content as I was, Holland America Line had signed my father and I up for a bear-spotting excursion, so we boarded the bus with 25 other guests to head into the woods in the rain for an additional chance of catching a glimpse of an animal we hadn't yet spotted on our week-long Alaska cruise.
We proceeded to see pretty much all of the bucket-list bear activity and then some. Bears catching salmon with their mouths? Check. Two cubs playing in a tree? Check. A bear napping? Check. A mother bear nursing? Check.
Harbor seal viewing from a bridge at Creek Street in Ketchikan. Photo Credit: Teri West
It turned out that the rain, which had made getting off the Koningsdam for the day so unappealing, was exactly what we had to thank for the experience. There hadn't been significant precipitation in two weeks, our guides told us, and with that day's rain, thousands of salmon swam in and the hungry bears were ready for a feast.
At times I had to remind myself I wasn't at a zoo. The frequency of human visits to the boardwalk for the guided tours has made the animals comfortable enough to hang out nearby while not really being a threat, said our guide with Kawanti Adventures.
As I watched two cubs play-fight at the top of a tree, I remembered similar experiences from just beyond a wall at my hometown zoo, the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Then, I turned around to see a bear catch and rip apart a wild salmon, an occurrence so reserved to nature that I'd only ever expect to witness it in a documentary.
The property is privately owned and spans about 40 acres that border the Tongass National Forest. The bears are free to come and go from the property, which also hosts ziplining adventures.
A salmon ladder in Ketchikan, viewed from the Married Man's Trail. Photo Credit: Teri West
We still had about an hour in port by the time the excursion was over, so my father and I returned to Creek Street, this time to check out the salmon ladder built to make it easier for the fish to get to the top of a waterfall.
And boom, a third bucket-list item was ticked off the list as we watched the powerful fish successfully make it to the top of the ladder.
I'd never in my life been so grateful for such lousy weather.