8/13/26: Helicopter Chases & Cheesecake

I awoke after a pretty poor night's sleep for my 9 am watch. The fog was in again, so there wasn't much to see other than a large iceberg only 200 m off the beam that made itself visible for 30 seconds as the fog very quickly lifted, and what I'm pretty sure was a solitary orca that breached twice next to the boat. After another 3 hours and a frustratingly crumbly Spanish tortilla I made, we arrived in Saglek Fjord. Saglek Fjord was stunning but posed an issue for us; it's part of the national park where you're unable to carry guns ashore. This meant we couldn't go ashore as there were too many bears to go ashore unarmed. The exception was base camp, which was at the head of the fjord and was guarded 24/7 by bear guards, making it safe to go ashore there without our weapons. So that's where we went. On our approach we were buzzed by what we learned was the taxi/cargo helicopter for the camp, and upon arriving we were welcomed by two employees of the camp, Mitch and Matt, who were much more hospitable than the polar bears that have been greeting us. We got a tour of the "bear-proof" grounds as well as some of the areas where the bear proofing came up short, such as the bathroom building that had been gnawed on. We also learned that the season for the camp was only from July to September and that the camp spends much of the rest of the year under 3–6 meters of snow. We were then invited to dinner, which was quite a treat of pork ribs, mashed potatoes, vegetables with lots of butter, and for dessert, cheesecake. We then got freshwater showers, which are always a treat, and as I was walking back out to the boat, I watched the very ballsy helicopter pilot chase two polar bears up a mountain and away from camp on the end of a cargo run. We then fell asleep to the sound of various bear deterrents popping, crackling, and banging throughout the night.