Close Ups

Because I am very busy listening to what the universe is telling me, I have decided that an earthquake first thing in the morning on my second day in Alaska, was a wake up call. The Earth was saying, “Rise and shine, girl, and be prepared for wonder.”

Probably everyone who comes to Alaska hopes to see wild animals. I am missing bears and puffins, but my friend assured me that I’d probably see seals, sea otters, moose, and plenty of bald eagles. She didn’t tell me how close I’d be –like reach and touch if I wanted to close. I still can’t believe yesterday was real and not some dream about being an Alaskan animal whisperer.

Ocean boats fascinate me. I love walking among them and reading their names, and trying to figure out what the boat does. A lot of boats on the Spit are fishing boats. A fisherman named Dave gave me a herring to lure in a seal. The seal took the bait , but surfaced further away. But I wasn’t disappointed because there was a mama sea otter fussing over a baby perched on her tummy. I have only seen sea otters in zoos. The ones I have seen entertain the crowds as they speed around their enclosures. Now I wonder if that frantic, circular swimming is a form of pacing . The sea otters I saw today were calm and slow, just floating around, checking out the slips for fish scraps and friendly fisherman handouts.

We went to a different beach at sunset. It was low tide and the clouds were lifting and I could see into the endless ocean, the Cook inlet and the Kachemak Bay, but I was focused on the tide pools under my feet. I have seen starfish before. The dried up carcasses at tourist shops. From a sea cliff in Washington, I looked down on colorful starfish beached during low tide, but I have never peered into a tide pool before and been able to capture a photo from my phone. I just read a story with my students about tide pools. My students were totally disinterested, but I wished that they could have seen the starfish and all the other little tiny creatures waiting for the ocean to return.

The bald eagle was sitting on the rock when we came to the beach. I thought it would fly off as we approached, but it didn’t seem bothered by us. Two other women approached it and took selfies and photographed the hell out of it. And then traded places with us. I was cautious because the talons were very real. I was so close that I could see the dark wet particles of sad clinging to the yellow gold claws. I was standing right next to a bald eagle. Uncaged. Untethered. Wild. Free. Massive. Magical. I photographed her (?) at every angle in the changing light.

I will never forget standing next to the eagle. I was walking back to the car in the fading light thinking about how completely lucky and humbled to be able to experience that kind of magic and I joked that if I saw a moose on the way home, nothing could be more perfect. And then this happened.

Not sure what perfection is ahead for today, but I am ready.