Eshamy Bay Lodge

Halliburton had rented the Eshamy Bay Lodge for Memorial Day weekend.  Dan Brown and my boss,  Bob Anderson, were taking 4 clients out hunting for black bears.  Dan mentioned to me that Doug, Zach, Sam and I should stop by if we were out that way.  We had never been to the Eshamy Bay Lodge and looked forward to checking it out.  It would turn out to be a really fun weekend!  We had only planned to stay 1 night, but ended up staying the whole weekend.  The group had the sleeping rooms and full meals provided, so we stayed out of their way on the dock.  It is nice to have a dock to tie up to!  No worries about floating off the anchor and a good solid place to fish from and get on and off the boat.  A lot more options for getting off the boat and exploring!

A view from the lodge up above. 

This is the original cabin that has been on the property for over 100 years.  It is neat to see the various "additions" that have been added over the years!  One of the past owners even delivered her child in the cabin - now that is a tough woman!

Checking out the lodge property.  Two buildings with sleeping rooms have been added in the past few years as well as a building with a kitchen, showers/toilets and a large deck.

Heaven.......flush toilets and hot water!

The deck is the perfect place to sit and enjoy a meal or just the view.

Talking with Mark, the owner, and Pamela, the property manager.  Mark was a really interesting guy - lives in Seward and owns the Hotel Seward with his wife.  We stay at the Hotel Seward every winter, so commented on all the Christmas decorations they have.  Pamela was glad to have another gal there - she is super nice and I enjoyed talking with her.

The guys getting ready to go hunting.

Dan Brown's new boat!  Nice!  He was quite excited to have it out on the water.

Bob Anderson, my boss, and the manager in Alaska of the oil company ENI. 

The ENI manager got a bear with his bow!

Watching all the bear unloading action from the boat.

Thor is the boat owned by the lodge owners.  A beautiful boat that he takes back and forth from Seward.  Doug and I gladly accepted the offer of a tour - we were curious to see the inside.

Taking the hide off the bear.

Doug and Dan.

Doug and Walter Quay (Drilling Manager at Pioneer Natural Resources).

Almost all done!  I was surprised how "little" was under all that fur.  A lot of muscle, but not much fat this time of the year.

Mr. Happy!

The starfish were fun to get out of the water near the shore.  We used the boat hook to pull up a huge one and inspect it before returning it to the water.

Flat calm!

A huge octopus had eaten all the shrimp in one of our shrimp pots.  We took it back to the dock, had fun looking at it and playing with the "suckers"on the legs before putting it back in the water.

Watching the octopus leave.

Trying out the new kayak.  Took a tour around the corner to Ship Wreck Cove.

The hunting group had a lot of luck this weekend.  Out of the 6 guys, 4 of them got a bear.  Bob Anderson and his bear.

Zach and Bob Anderson's bear.

The new crane worked great!

Dinner is served!  On Sunday the weather was fantastic!  Nice that we have 1 more day!.

In the evening, the guys went out hunting.  Doug was invited by Bob to go for a ride to see if they spotted anything.  Mark and Duke, property manager, made a campfire for the guys to enjoy when they got back.  Before everyone returned, Zach and Sam enjoyed the fire and roasted a few marshmallows.

Like a dog.....fun to put your head out and enjoy the breeze!

On the way back, I suggested we swing into Goose Bay to look at the cabin we have reserved in a few weeks for when Fred, Lisa, Burton and Max come for a visit.  We were quite surprised to see so much snow!  Even worse, the sign on the door didn't give us warm fuzzy feelings about the cabin being open in a few weeks.  Apparently the snow had slid off one side of the cabin before the other.  The weigh on one side had "tweaked" the cabin and it needed repair before being used.  Bummer.....well, we will have to determine what plan B will be!

The new crane is wonderful!  It was no problem to take the Zodiac down and go to shore to see the cabin and then put the boat back up.  So much better than us trying to pull it up and the motor can stay on it.  One of us was going to get hurt with pulling and lifting it.  Wonderful addition this year!  Also, made for a fun place to hang Sam. He laughed the whole time!

What a great weekend!