Uncruise Adventure Day Three

 We spent our third day in Thomas Bay and had some really big adventures there! Ollie and the girls went on an 11 mile all day hike and I'll post pictures of those later (once again...those pics are on Ollie's camera).  For this post you get to hear about the adventures of the rest of us.  We went on an "easy" hike into the woods.  The hike was very easy and beautiful but getting in and out of the boat was not easy or beautiful, it was muddy.  Very, very muddy--the kind of mud that sucks you in and doesn't want to let you go.  Oh, and wet too, we had to cross a small, muddy stream.  While Aunt Harriet was crossing the stream, I pulled my camera out to get a picture and as I went to shift to get the picture, my boots were completely stuck in the mud and I lost my balance and sat down hard.  In the mud.  I plopped and sunk in good.  I had some help getting up thankfully and then I got to spend 2 hours hiking with a very wet, muddy bottom.  Of course I didn't wear my rain pants for this hike...didn't think I'd need them.  Joe thought it was hysterical, funniest thing he'd ever seen.

 That picture of poo above is bear poo.  Also known as bear scat.

 I wasn't the only one who got to really "feel" Alaskan mud...Aunt Harriet stepped right out of her boots when they got stuck in the mud...at least she stayed upright.

 After our hike we went back to the boat and cleaned up and had lunch and then Joe and I set out again to the same place for some "frolicking in the field" with the other kids on the boat.  A few of the parents and guides went along and we had a great time!  They played some games, ran around a lot, and even got to hear a story about Sasquatch and then a real live hot pink Sasquatch emerged from the woods to the delight of everyone.  It was hilarious and the kids just loved it.  Before we left we even made a modified Harlem Shake video with the Sasquatch and adults and kids.  I'll eventually get it posted on here too.

 One of the games they played was "Predator and Prey."  Above is Joe being the prey and hiding from the predator, he was safe behind this old man on the stump and never did get seen until he showed himself.

 Notice all of this water??  That was the super tide coming in super fast...this is about a 1/4 mile from the pictures in the post above when we were in all the mud.  By the time we came back after lunch, the water had risen well above those mud flats but this field was dry.  An hour later and we practically had to swim to the skiff to get picked up.  It is a really good thing that we had our mud/rain boots.  We definitely wore them a lot!  Another name for those boots is the Alaskan tennis shoe, kind of like flip flops are the Florida tennis shoe.

When we got back to the boat there were lots of people out kayaking and I think this is the day that Joe and Jane went out kayaking.  I was in my room and watching some kayakers out the window and just past them I saw a big whale spout.  They got treated to another whale show up close and personal!  It was just one whale this time though.  It was not uncommon to see seals, harbor porpoises, and Dall's porpoises out in the water everywhere we went.