So the alarm clock rang at 4am and I woke up with a tinge of reluctance as I didnt have good sleep for the past few days.. we woke up..got prepared..stacked tons of heatpads into our clothes..to brace the cold wind while on board the boat.
It was a first time experience for many of us. A short drive away from the hotel and we arrived at the port. We put on life jackets in addition to the layers of clothes which we already had. Armed with a tripod, we selected strategic positions, hopefully to capture some good shots of the eagles that were about to arrive as we ventured out to the sea..
And then, we saw the beautiful sun and the huge slabs of frozen sea ice..it's just a WOW in my freezing brain! I have never imagined seeing all these appearing in front of me. There were many sea gulls, Stellar eagles, white-tailed sea eagles flying in all directions, trying to snap fish and fighting food with one another. Sometimes, it was just interesting to stop looking at all these through the eyepiece of the camera, but just look at them with our own eyes to appreciate what the wild and nature has to offer.
White-tailed sea eagle trying to defend against the surrounding crows.
Steller's sea eagle in anti-parallel orientation
Fight between the Seagulls
The beautiful mountains which encompassed the sea where all the action were taking place.
Ferocious Tear to exhibit its hunger
A crab feast for the seagull.
I really appreciated the moment to observe how eagles fight for food, how crows try to be a "pest" and snatch some fish meat while the eagles were feasting away, how eagles got irritated by the crows and shoo-ed them off!
All these are moments that could not be witnessed in the boundaries of a zoo/birdpark. So it was pretty amazing to most of us although the biting cold was unbearable after an hour or so. I loved the majestic mountain that formed the backdrop, together with the drift ice in the foreground, as well as the subjects..
A 3h session passed on quickly and we arrived back to land.. trying to gain some composure without having any cold feet. Some of us were complaining we could no longer feel our hands and feet! Hard to believe but it was the cold fact!
We rested back at hotel for our well-deserved breakfast..and we drove out to spot any wild life along the way. We took a rest at some restaurant for lunch and recollected memories that we saw while at the cruise.
The landscape that we saw along the drive was spectacular, no doubt all was white. . we tried spotting around, hoping to see some wildlife..if not dogs/cats..then we suddenly saw a cat-like creature, or rather it was me who shouted cat! when...it was actually a fox haha...
Kuma-san, the dog at the hotel
The landscape that we saw along the drive was spectacular, no doubt all was white. . we tried spotting around, hoping to see some wildlife..if not dogs/cats..then we suddenly saw a cat-like creature, or rather it was me who shouted cat! when...it was actually a fox haha...
I mistook this as a cat!
The Japanese Red Fox contributing some stuff to the snow. Talking about natural process in nature!
A very dreamy feeling about this fox. It seemed that our dream had came true.
nonetheless, many of us got really excited and we hopped out of the car, trying not to scare the fox away and took multiple shots of the fox as it crossed the road to climb up the mountain haha!
Crossing the road in a steadily manner.
One last look at the human population (us) before it disappeared into the woods.
Beware of foxes in the woods!
and then, some of us saw the most magical thing..we saw three male deers moving on top of the hill that had beautiful trees..that was too fast to capture with our camera unfortunately..if you could allow me to image..it look somewhat like this..it was like a scene taken from a magical fairytale! And having to spot them during sunset made the moment even special.. that's why I love to travel..it is such unexpected moments that will live forever in your memory even after years have passed :)
So a fox was spotted..and we hoped for more wildlife to appear in front of our eyes. but there was none haha..so we called it a day..returned back to hotel for some onsen before dinner again.
It was a pity we did not get to experience the crab feast that night but was treated to a different type of meal... which was either you like it or you dont like it although the locals said to us that was a popular dish haha...well it was subjective!
Time for a good rest before our second boat trip early tomorrow morning!
The only pain in this trip was to wake up early almost every day.. but the reward we got back was usually immensely satisfying.. you live only once!
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