Alaska Uncovered Podcast
Welcome to the Alaska Uncovered Podcast with your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming. Jennie brings you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska Travel and Life in Alaska. Guests include Alaska travel experts and Alaska business owners, guides and interesting Alaskans. Jennie is a born and raised Seattleite, a former Alaskan and spends several weeks in Alaska each year. She’s an experienced guide and the Founder of the Alaska and Washington travel website, Top Left Adventures. Jennie is joined by occasional co-host, Jay Flaming, her husband for 25 years. Jennie and Jay met working in tourism in Alaska and have lived in Skagway, Juneau and Fairbanks together. Jay lived in Fairbanks for 8 years before meeting Jennie in Skagway and grew up in Yellowstone National Park.
Alaska Uncovered Podcast
Bear Viewing in Homer with Emerald Air Service
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Derick Broderman from Emerald Air Service in Homer sits down with Jennie to talk about all things bear viewing from Homer and some of his advice for visiting Homer.
Emerald Air Service Bear Viewing
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📍 Welcome to the Alaska Uncovered Podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, my occasional co-host and full-time husband, Jay, and I bring you accurate, helpful, and entertaining information about Alaska Travel and life in Alaska. Patreon members, the members of the Alaska Uncovered Planning Club on Patreon. We're so grateful for your support and you can join them and get your questions answered by me. Every single week, all year long, even during the tour season patreon.com/alaska uncovered. The link is also in the show notes. Enjoy the show. I. My guest today is Derick Broderman, and Derick is a pilot and the director of operations at Emerald Air Service in Homer. And today we're gonna be talking about bear viewing. So Derick, thank you so much for coming onto the pod today. It's great to have you. Thank you for having me., Look forward to, it's my first, first podcast I guess. Love it. We'll see how goes Well, you're, you're doing great so far. . Wonderful. So, um, so listeners. You know, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, that I'm a little bit passionate about helping you find other ways to do bear viewing besides just going to Brooks Falls and besides just going there from Anchorage. So we are gonna. Talk about Brooks Falls today among other things. But, um, I am really excited to have Derick here because Emerald Air does like most flight services in Alaska, they do charters and take people all over the place for all kinds of reasons. But one of the big things that you do is bear viewing. So, Derick, before we get into that, I would love to know how you became a pilot. I became a pilot, , from the infatuation starting as a child with, , watching airplanes flying overhead. I eventually, after, you know, the very first part of my adulthood into my mid twenties, I. Get the nerve to go get my pilot license and become a pilot. Awesome. And was that in Alaska or was that somewhere else? It was, that was down in the lower 48. Okay. So I spent most of my early, , my early childhood and, adulthood in, down in the lower 48. Mm-hmm. But, , I got my license and I decided that I wanted to fly crop dusters and so Nice. Um, you know, I had a mentor and he told me to, get all my license and ratings and, and just in case, that's not something that worked out for me. And, uh, just to be ready for whatever aviation brings me and, uh, mm-hmm. , I got all my license and I started rapid firing emails and, uh, calls to crop dusting companies to, to get my first job. And they all came back with the same response that I needed more experience. Oh. And I said, well, how do I get that experience? And they said. The best place to get it is gonna be in Alaska. Okay. I find that kind of funny because it seems like, well, it's a little different flying than say the airline flying, you would get the experience flying crop dusters, but so I thought, okay, well I guess I'm heading up to Alaska to, to build flight experience in. Mm-hmm. It was pretty much right when I got up here. It just kind of dawned on me that, it was something about it that just pulled me towards it, you know? Yeah. In, in the aspect that once I arrived here, I just kind of looked around and, and started my first flying, job. Out in Western Alaska and realized,, I'm just never leaving this place. Yeah. And so that was, uh, 17 years ago. That's amazing. So how did you get over to Homer? So as I was flying out in, Western Alaska, I had a, a friend, a coworker, came to Homer and did a summer gig here, flying out, doing bear viewing. Hmm. , And he left and he came back and he told me all the stories, and how much fun it was. And he pretty much just said, eat the land on a beach and play with bears all day. And I thought, wow, actually that kind of sounds fun. So, yeah. He said, you know, they're looking for a pilot for the next summer. And so, you know, next summer came, and this was back in 2000 and. 13, 2000. Yep. Okay. Summer of 2013. And, I did my first bear viewing job where I was flying wheels and laying on a beach and guiding people out in the wilderness. And um, yeah, that was 2013 and haven't left since. That's amazing. Bear viewing. All right, I wanna kind of have a combination of like knowing what kind of bear viewing people can do from Homer, but also just asking some questions that people ask me all the time about bear viewing. Bear viewing flights. Well, first of all, beer viewing is usually nearly always with a few exceptions. A flight scene experience, like what you all offer. Can you talk a little bit about why, like these are generally flight scene trips as opposed to like hiking trips or road trips or something like that? Yeah, I mean, um, when it comes to any trip that you're going to go and to in, in Alaska, essentially it. It requires a flight. Mm-hmm. And for those who don't know, if you were to come visit Alaska, you can only access, you know, 10 to 20% of Alaska from the road system. Yep. So, majority of Alaska,, you have to access it essentially by, by aircraft. Once you take off, say at a homer and you go on these trips, essentially what you end up doing is you're flying a hundred and nautical miles plus away from Homer and you're flying over the cook inlet. You're flying over volcanoes, glaciers. , Braided rivers, the whole works, , as you're flying just to go bear view essentially. Yep. So it's just kind of a magical place. You know, you could stand on the ground and look around you in Alaska, but once you're up in the air, you can see the, the vast majority, distance on how massive and how incredibly beautiful it is. Mm-hmm. . You're trying to take people to a place where bear viewing is more or less, you can say what you want to about this assure thing and that that involves flying. Derick, another thing, people often, , I'm just gonna answer this for you. 'cause people often are like, whoa, these are flight scene trips and they're so expensive. Yeah, that's, probably the most common question we get and it's a fair one, you know? The biggest thing, that is in Alaska, it's not typical flying. You're operating in a remote, Alaska coastal environments, landing areas with no infrastructure in real time, decisions based on weather and terrain. So the level of experience and judgment required is required, is high, essentially. So it's not something that. No one should be willing to compromise on. Then you have the operational side. , Maintenance in Alaska is more demanding. The fuel is more expensive. The insurance is definitely more expensive. , I can't speak with other companies, but emerald. In general, facilities and aircraft, it's all very high end stuff. We like to keep everything first class, and so, the whole operation that we have is, definitely adds up. Once people, once people actually do it, they quickly realize why like, oh yeah, this, this, this type of operation is definitely, has to be expensive, you know? Yeah. Yep. And it's a, it's a pretty small group of people too. I mean, what is, what is, I know you have different aircraft, but like, what would be the largest group size that you would have in a plane? So we, we, we have two different types of aircraft we take. Mm-hmm. And um, we have a turbine de havelin otters. Mm-hmm. And all of aircraft are on floats.. Two de havelin, or we have three de havelin otters and they hold nine passengers. And then we have a de havilan beaver, which schematically says you can hold up to seven. People, but it's definitely a lot smaller airplane than say the Otter is. And so we typically will run four. Four guests and it just to make sure it's nice and comfortable for them. They're not squeezed in there, you know, like you would be in another aircraft, you know? Um, and so we make it definitely more comfortable. Especially having, being that we have a guide. That's another factor too. You know, if you're flying between like Anchorage and Seattle, some of those costs are spread out among like 200 people instead of like eight Yeah. 200 people in an and flights going back every hour on the hour. All summer long. Yeah. All year round. Totally different business. Yeah. Yeah. And also you're a small business. You're not, you know, a publicly traded company like an airline. So that's also a factor. Essentially 120 days to make or break it, you know? Yeah, exactly. That's exactly how long their season is. So, and just like most companies here, you know? Yeah. Not, not saying that we drive our prices high because of that, but it's Right. But you have to everything. You have to make it work in a small time. Yeah, exactly. And that's why we have great equipment. We have mechanics that are working year round on the airplanes. Yep. And we have high experience pilots and it all adds up we definitely take pride in having the most experienced, you know, employees and, and, and pilots and guides and. And maintenance personnel and everything you can, you can essentially get, and that doesn't come cheap. Yeah, no, it sure does not. Okay. Um, Derek, one other thing I wanted to ask you about is bear safety. In these remote areas with these large predators. Um, so tell us a little bit for someone who's like. I love this idea, but like, am I really gonna be on the remote coast of a national park with a pilot and a guide and that's it. Is that gonna be okay? Can you talk a little bit about, about that and what guests need to know before committee? Yeah. Safety is definitely. A big one, or even the biggest one, , not only when it comes to the aircraft, , around bears. It's a big one. You know, it's, it's something that we don't, we don't, , take lightly at all. To answer the question, yes, it's safe when it's done properly, you know? Yeah. We, at Emeral we operate with strict guidelines and experienced crews, and we have a lot of respect for the animals. , We're not there to. You know, interact with them. We're there to observe them. And that's, yep. That, that's a big, that's a big part of why it works yes. Um, we take. You know, the experience from, guides that have been doing a long time and been in the industry a long time, um, and, , being out there in a larger group and respecting animals and, leaving a trace behind. That's a big motto we have here at Emerald, you know? Yep. That's kind of why it works, out there is, is the respect, uh, of the animals that are out there. , Once you stop respecting them and you, and you're, you start doing things outside your guidelines and next thing it won't be safe anymore or there won't be any barriers out there for you to observe, ? Yeah. So, so we take that very serious at, at ald,, with our training and. Even with our clients, we've had some clients that have been upset in the past, um, because they mm-hmm. Couldn't get clo they wanted to get closer or they wanted a picture, what they're doing, this or that, and it's. Sometimes it's hard, you know? Yeah. That you're, you're trying to give 'em the best quality trip possible. But, , safety is definitely by far overrides anyone's, , bad review. They might leave or bad taste in their mouth. They have to understand that this is strictly,, all based on safety. Not necessary for the people, but for the animals. Yeah. So by the way, listeners, Homer is not as I'm sure you know, the only place you can do, , bear viewing flights. You can also do that in Anchorage and Kodiak and Juno and I'm sure other places. So you of the. Benefits of doing bear viewing, specifically from Homer, and then we'll get into where you actually go from Homer. But why is it a good option for bear viewing? The best option is at a Homer just because we're so centrally located to all the locations. Yeah. You know, today out of Anchorage or in Kenai, you know, they have flights that run, um, from there down to Brooks Falls. , You're talking about a two and a half, three hour flight, you know? Yeah. Just to get down there and then to fly that back. It takes up a lot of the days, just the, the flight in general, you know, homers. There, you know, Brooks Falls flights, are essentially an hour and 15 minutes. So yeah. Quick, which gives us more access and more time on the ground. Yep. At Brooks Falls, which you Yep. Definitely need. And then when it comes to our guided expedition trips, there's a lot of companies, you know, essentially can't do those flights all the way down to the cap my coast and back efficiently. Right. Um, like we can, um, and so a lot of, you know, majority of the Kenai to the. Anchorage that, that sort of thing. If they're, unless they're gonna Brooks Falls, you know, essentially they, they're just doing Lake Clark bear trips, bear main trips. Yep. Yep. And so at a Homer we have access to Cat Mine National Park, which any other places in Alaska typically can't get to. Yep. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. The main thing is just, we're just so centrally located. If you were to draw a ring around all the better bear viewing spots and you , drew that line across, we would be right in the middle of all locations. Yep. I'm glad that you clarified that because I, people, I feel like people listening would be like, Homer isn't centrally located, but it is among bear viewing places. It's like the end of the road, but it's great for bear viewing. Oh, love that. Another thing, another, another thing too is you know, if you're up in Anchorage, those two, the three hour flights, weather in Alaska moves very, very quickly. Or maybe your listeners don't know. , Our, the fronts here, they move real fast. Where, you know, we're able to get over to Brooks, into our, , guided, coastal locations a lot quicker and get outta there quicker based on weather moving in. Yep. . And that, that is, you know, we'll talk more about weather, but listeners, you know, if you've been around here for a while, that like this is something you have to consider. Tell us a little bit about the different bear viewing trips that you all offer, like what the locations are. So I know that you do day trips to Brooks Falls. , Roughly how long are those trips from Homer to Homer, including the flight? The Brooks Falls trip. Essentially we have two different, and we, label Brooks Falls as the iconic trip, right? Yeah. It's the what everyone thinks of, you know? Yes. I would say majority of people think of when Bear View in Alaska is that iconic picture of the bear standing on the waterfall. Yes. Kitchen, that salmon in his mouth. But we, , a typical day at Brooks Falls is that , we depart some around, sometime around 7:00 AM. Mm-hmm. We like to be the early birds and the, and, and the fact that we like to get to Brooks before say the crowds, ? Yep. The. Majority of all the lodges and other companies that are running outta Anchorage. So we get there early. It's usually about an hour and 15 minute flight. Once we land and pull up to the beach, we allott five hours on the ground, which typically That's awesome. Is more than, a majority of all. Yes. SI know of another that goes five hours. Yeah, I don't either. And then we do five hours on the ground and then we turn around and load back in the plane and, and fly back to Homers, usually back, about 3 30, 4 o'clock. So it is a full day experience. You plan for the full day, you know, just in case we have a little bit of, you know, the one typical weather thing that we run into at Brooks is gonna be the morning fog. Yeah. And so sometimes we do delay the flights a little bit, but essentially, just to kind of give you the understanding of the differences of leaving early, is, you know, we will take off at seven. Laying over there about 8 15, 8 30. And we're about, you know, one of five airplanes that are there, and by the time we take off out of there on the really busy days, you know, there's about 30, 30 plus airplanes that are lined up on the beach as we're talking out. Yes. So, mm-hmm. Yep. And listeners, so I'm sure. Um, you're thinking, I would be thinking if I hadn't been there, like really, how could, how could there be crowds? This is like a remote fly in place that's really hard to get to. How could it be crowded? Um, well it is, you know that. Anyway, so that is, it's a big deal to have more time, more and get there early. Okay. So that is your Brooks Falls trip that everyone has heard of. That they think they want, which is, I have to say, pretty cool. Mm-hmm. However, people who've been with me for a while know that there are lots of other places to do bear viewing as well. So, Derick, can you talk a little bit about the other options that you offer for bear viewing? I know you have one other in Cat, my National Park. Yes, that's correct. Yep. So yeah, it's a guided expedition trip where you fly at a homer and depending on the year and where the bears have moved, and you know, essentially they're. Moving based on a food source. Yep. Uh, we go to one to two locations. The first one being Hallow Bay, which is down the Capite coast. So essentially you take off at a homer and, you fly down to Hallow Bay and again. We land, you have a naturalist, so a guide, not the pilot isn't the guide. We have our own professional naturalists. Yeah, that will guide the group around,, the coastal area where bears, , early season or munching on sedge meadows, clams, you know, vegetation assortment of different, food there, gaining some weight, but possibly just storing up enough energy until the salmon come. Yep. So that, that trip. Where we land is, , very remote. And I like to kind say, yeah, it's just more adventurous, . There's no manmade structures, there's no platforms, you know? Yep. There's no groom trails, we're essentially using game trails, you know? Yep. Everywhere. We're out hiking around, um, viewing bears, you know? Yep. That's really cool. And is that trip a similar length of time or is it different? Essentially it's, it's around the same length of time. You know, the only difference in the trip itself is that, you know, it's, it's about another 15 minute flight. Yep. Mm-hmm. Way, you know, to go to Brooks. So an extra half hour of flying. Mm-hmm. Completely different kind of flying, you know, when we fly down, um, especially in June, July down to Halla Bay, we're passing by volcanoes and glaciers the coolest. Yeah. We're, you know, we're flying over the cook inlet, so there's occasionally some whales, different marine life that we see on our flights to and from, so. Mm-hmm. It's pretty spectacular, but, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's five hours on the ground, you know? Um Yep. And so it's, it's around the same,? Yep. And we, we have it staggered. We're not too worried about crowds, , it's gonna be a little bit more, as I, as I call it, romantic. Yes. In the aspect where there's not hardly anyone out there in the same, you know, aspect as Brooks Falls, per se. It's definitely gonna be more remote, more wilderness, more adventurous,? Yes, we do. You do need to have a little bit more of a mobility, nature to you, you know? Yep. Uh, you know, it's not necessarily elevation changes that is the killer, it's just the uneven surfaces, ? Yes. Creeks and little rivers and mud and stuff that we're walking through. To go observe and safely. Yeah. Absolutely., By the way, listeners, , the volcanoes and other things that Derick was talking about is a really cool thing about Cat May, and that's actually why Cat May was protected initially. It's not actually about bears, so I mean. Of course all parks want to protect wildlife, but it's really this cool volcanic landscape, which is another whole podcast we should do. Um, that is the reason that Cat May is a national park. So that's a whole other story, but Okay, that I gotta say. That sounds pretty cool. I was gonna say, I think there's 26 volcanoes in can National Park. That's really bonkers. Really cool. I mean, it's just really wild. Don't call me, but I'm, yeah. If I can remember. Yeah, that sounds right. I think, yeah, I think it's 26, 27 in that, in that range. And just that kept mind, the 4.1 million acres, um, yeah. Of landscape there. So, yep, you're right. The National Park was established due to the volcanic, uh. Activity It has. Yeah. Bears are just the extra, the icing on the cake. Yeah. They're like a little bonus or a big bonus actually. That's cool. Okay, so, um, Derick, I'm also assuming that you offer those different trips, not, not always at the exact same time because you're doing them when the bears are there. So like what, what months can people go. On these different types of trips. And is there overlap between them or are they Yeah, at different times. Great question. Um, yes. So we'll just go straight to the Brooks Falls since that's the, that's the popular one, essentially. Yep. Um, Brooks Falls, essentially, we open up our books to take people to Brooks Falls June, the last week of June. Yep. And it kind of varies if we're not seeing bears quite there yet. You know, we talk to the customers, we let 'em know, hey. The bears aren't quite there and we usually, you know, convert 'em over to going on one of our guided expeditions. 'cause Yep. At that time the guided expeditions are on fire. I mean there's, yeah. You know, it's meeting season, the whole work. It's usually an easy swap for people. They don't want to just go walk around and sign into the, the Brooks Camp if they're not gonna actually see any bears. It fluctuates. But last year, you know, the last week of June we did see bears, you know? Yep. And so that was a great time to go. And then it, you know, essentially Brooks Falls has bear. All the way through September.. From that point forward there's gonna be a busier time than a slower time. Once the bears have officially showed up to Brooks, then you can kind of count that there'll be some sort of, of bear activity at Brooks Falls the rest of the summer. Yeah. When speaking with clients, we let 'em know that, you know. There's two different fish runs. There's a red run and then a silver run, and they do not. Always overlap. And the o the, that phase of it's gonna be middle of August to the beginning of August is kind of where that Yeah. Yeah. Now last year was an anomaly. It, you know, essentially they overlapped. There was so much fish that were running up Brooks River there that. The bears were there the whole, the whole time and Yep. In blink. Yep. Yeah. Um, that makes sense. Historically speaking, it does slow down a little bit in August and then picks back up in September. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, so. With that being said, J July in August. Good, great months, uh, for Brooks. Mm-hmm. In the aspect that bears will be there. July obviously being the hot time of it, and in September it becomes hot again. Um, yep. Our guided expedition though, essentially we open the doors here at Emerald Air Service, , essentially Memorial Day and then just yep. To Labor Day or just the week after, um, is kind of our, our doors open bear view and time. Because, you know, the coastal, again, it's, it depends on the winter and the vegetation and the bears and, and all that stuff. But usually we start to see bear activity towards the end of May., Early June. Mm-hmm. And so we obviously brief our, our clients that book those trips that, hey, there's a possibility that it's, , it's gonna be a little slow and when we're going out there every day. So we kind of have Right. An idea of what their activity is. So, you know, essentially the guided expedition once it starts, it's good all the way through the end of August. The last couple years it, it really has slowed down. The guided aspect of it come the be first week of September Both trips do overlap. You know, you can. Mm-hmm. We, we have. Airplanes that are going out any given day in July. Some might be out guided, some might be out to the Brooks Falls as we call the self guided trip. And there might be charters, there might be fish flyouts, there might be glacier tours. We have lots of different things that we offer, but when it comes to bear viewing there, there's no, there's overlap. So, yeah, some days you're doing both, especially like July when it's really hopping. Exactly. So can you, if you wanna extend the season a little bit, can you phone up the bear captain during hibernation and be like, Hey, bears, how do you feel about coming out a little bit earlier? We would love to do that. I would, I, you know what, I always joke, you know, it'd be, I would, I would love to do bear view on year round, but then yeah, come, come September after working, 120 days straight,? Yeah. It's okay to let Bears go and do their thing. And let the humans recover as well. Yeah, I love that. I just always love when people ask about things like, you know, like, like bear view, like what? Not just bears, also whales and or things like the Northern lights that are, well, when are they out? You know, these are the times you could see them, but they're, they're not necessarily like following our calendar. It's not like, no, we negotiate with them and we're like, we'd love it. If you guys didn't mind coming out, like early May of this year, they'd be like, okay, Derick, we'll do that for you. How much are you gonna pay? Yeah. No, we, uh, we just, adjust. To, it's, it's, it's up to the bears. And when they come out, how many come out, what they wanna do, how long they wanna stay in locations, and we're, it is wildlife viewing,? Nothing's guaranteed. You know, and that is, that is one cool thing about flying is you're kind of seeing what's go, you can kind of see what's going on. Like somewhat efficiently. You're going out to the same places every day and you can be like, oh, well, looks like the Bears are here. It looks like they're not here. Yeah. You know, the first first trips we go out there, it's kind of, we're essentially flying the blind in the aspect of Yep. Uh, you know, we let the, we brief 'em, Hey, we haven't, you know, we, we do a company camp trip mm-hmm. Before we start doing trips. And that, that gets the guides and some employee. We camp out in Halla Bay and we, that way it gives the guides time to get used to the terrain, you know? Yep. It, it, through winter things can change. Fix can change, you know? Yeah. So mapping out the terrain, and then getting a good understanding too, um, where if there's bear tracks already, if there's bears already, that sort of thing. And so we can kind of plan it, um, going from there. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. And one other thing too, I just wanted to make sure I got right. 'cause I think this is important for people. So for Hallow Bay, the Cat, my Coast Bear viewing, you've been referring to that as guided versus self-guided at Brooks Falls. And that's because at Brooks Falls, you, it's really you're bringing people there and then they're visiting on their own. But of course there's. Rangers and, and that kind of thing. Whereas when you go to Hello Bay. There's no infrastructure there. So that's why you're bringing a guide and a naturalist with you. Is that right? Exact, exactly. Yep. Okay. So our guided trips have a naturalist with them. Because there is, you know, no one else telling them the do's and don'ts essentially out there. And then Brooks Falls, we, we consider it a self-guided trip. Yeah. Our pilots, you know, we'll walk around with the guests, who we're wealth of knowledge and so we'll walk with them around and, and, and point things out and, kind of give 'em the lay of the land, that sort of thing it's definitely a self-guided trip. And that's kind of how the Park Service likes it. They're Yes at Brooks Falls, you know?. Essentially. So. Derick, do you, do you offer other public bear viewing tours to other locations, or are these the ones that you offer? I didn't really get into our August timeframe so Halla Bay is, is, it's great for, um, mating season and the meadows and all the vegetation and clams that the bears are eating, but eventually what happens is fish start to run those streams all up and down that coast. Mm-hmm. And we tend to see bears disappear out of Halle Bay just based on the fact that they are. You know, on the move looking for, their favorite fishing spot. And so during that time we switch gears and we go to a place, called Crosswinds Lake, but it's Mar Rain Creek and the confluence of Funnel Creek there in the cat by National Park Preserve. Mm-hmm. Where we watch bears fish. That's been the most consistent area to see it during that time of the year. So our August guided expeditions are gonna be headed to Mera Creek. Awesome. And similarly there, I, there's, I'm assuming there's no infrastructure and so that's why you're bringing the guide with you. Exactly. So no fabulous, no infrastructure, no platforms, , it's again, another adventurous trip. So we just try to set the expectations. , Those are our two main locations for the guided trip. But, being, experienced. With guiding all the way up and down the coasts. There are other locations that mm-hmm. Will go to if weather per se is bad in that location. Mm-hmm. But those are our two main ones that, I would say 95% of the time we're going to. But there's multiple locations all up and down the coast that we can explore and Yeah. And, and still get a very good quality trip. And listeners, regardless of of where you're bear viewing. Or who you're going with. It's always, this is just reminding me how important it is to , let them tell you where the go. Try to keep an open mind about where you're going. So if something like weather is in the way or your trip is in June, and, or it's in August, or like let folks like Derick. Advise you about where you wanna go because it is their, full-time job to help people find and experience Awesome Bear days. So, try to hold your exact details a little bit loosely so that you can take their advice. I think that's really important. Mm-hmm. Listen to Derick, everybody. I agree. Yeah. I've been in the industry 14 years now. I got a over 1100 guided trips under my belt when Yeah. I, I'm out there guiding, that you're right. You know, we're very open when people call and we try to set the expectations, right? That's the first kind of questions that we'll ask people is what their expectations are, what do they wanna see, what are they hoping to see? Yeah. And then we can kind of customize exactly what trip they're actually looking for because, if you don't have podcasts like this or any kind of real life experience doing it, yeah. You, you really don't know. You know what, June 28th, the best place to go to see this or see Yes. This, you know? And if someone told you something different, like I assume if I call you and I'm like, Hey Derick, I'm gonna be in Homer on June 28th, or I'm gonna be there on August 10th, or I'm gonna be there September. 12th, like you are going to, I'm sure, give me a different answer about what the best trip is for me based on my goals. So that's something I think people lose track of too, is someone else said to do this one and it's like, well, yeah, but they may have gone at a different time. It's, yeah, all best based on expectations, it's gonna be, it's expensive no matter who you go with or what, you know, what you decide to do. So it's. Setting expectations for, for the amount of money that you're spending to do it. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so speaking of expectations, Derick, you talked a little bit about like kind of in general what the day looks like, so. Let's talk a little more. What should people wear, bring with them? Should they bring snacks? Should they bring lunch? Are they allowed to bring lunch? Can you talk a little bit about that and like what gear and things you provide versus your guests need to bring with them? Yes. , I always explain to people here at Emerald, you can show up in shorts and a flip flops and we'll dress you for the right conditions. Perfect. Because we understand the chaoticness of, of. Planning a vacation and making sure you have all this packed and this packed and then you, you're out the door and you're coming to the operation at seven in the morning and you forget this and you forget that we, we, we take care of our guests in the aspect that we have full wardrobes of everything that you'll need. Uh, granted, if you are very good at planning and you know, then obviously yeah, layers. Rain gear plan for a 40 degree weather, windy day with rain, and just understand the fact that, you know, if it isn't like that, you could, that you, you had to pack it around with you,? Yeah. So we have people bringing extra layers to extra, jackets, whatever it is. And our guides do a really good job of, of verifying what everyone has and making sure that, some people. We'll show up with maybe one of the, , like a poncho or something like that. Yeah. And so we say, well, that, ponchos are great if it's just a little bit of, of a mist. But usually in Alaska when it's raining, it decides to not only rain hard, but sometimes it comes at you sideways. Yes. And a little bit of wind associated. So yeah, we, we, we provide, nice rain jackets for, for those clients. Um, that's amazing. It's great. Uh, but yeah, rain, is. Not always guaranteed and it's not always gonna happen, but you know, it's definitely something that we're aware of every day, for sure. Yeah, and I think it's important to listeners, if you wake up in the morning and Homer and it's raining. It doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna be raining all day. And similarly, if it's sunny, don't assume that it won't be raining later, or won't be raining on the other side of the cook inlet. , The weather can change fast. So listen to Derick when he tells you what to wear. Well, not only that, but you can wake up in the morning and it could be 70 degrees here in Homer, beautiful blue skies. But you gotta keep in mind, we're going 130 miles away. . Passing through three different weather systems. And it could be blowing 30 and rainy and , miserable, or vice versa. Right. It could be a rainy day in Homer and the forecast is supposed to be raining all day and you take off at a homer and about 15 minutes into your flight it just turns into a blue sky. Yeah, I've experienced that. It's like one of those things. Yeah. One of those things that you just, you prepare for everything. You prepare for the worst and hope for the best, I guess. Is the right thing to say. Yep, for sure. Okay, so let's talk about rain a little bit, Derick, and weather and flights. So. I think people probably know that smaller planes like you travel in to go bear viewing, don't have the same equipment that like Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have. So can you talk a little bit about kind of how Emerald Air makes decisions about, whether or not to fly and how should people prepare for that? Mentally and what can they expect if weather does interfere with their tour? Yeah. The number one thing is, is people ask, oh, if it can we fly in the rain? And yeah. The answer is yes, it's a great opportunity. Opportunity to wash the planes down from the salt water, right. The dust and everything. But it comes to like a visibility and clouds and fog and, that sort of all those aviation weather terms, but mm-hmm. What it comes down to is,, the aircraft that Emerald Air, has invested in, we have top of the line GPSs, uh, instrument panels and the whole works to navigate through, say rainy days and windy days. . But the morning always starts off with a weather brief with all the pilots. Chief Pilot, the director of operations, myself and the guides, and we sit down and we go over the weather and we, we plan out the day. Okay, this is the forecast for right now. This is a forecast for. Four hours from now, this is the four forecast for eight hours from now. And at that point, make the determination, hey, is if the weather's getting better, if it's getting worse, that sort of thing. We put all of our, heads together, we're talking about 50 plus thousand hours of flying. Yeah. Decades of guiding experience and, and the whole works. And hey, is this safe to go? And is it gonna be miserable for the clients? Yeah. Thing, because there might be a day where it's raining really hard and it's blown, but it's safe to go fly. But is it worth. Standing out in that for five hours. Yeah. And then we, you know, at that point if we've determine a go or no go or let's talk to the clients and give 'em the expectation talk, and then kind of go from there, that's what we Yep. Will do. But the first thing , is this a go or no go? Decision based on safety. Yep. Um, for the flight in general. That makes a lot of, a lot of sense. And um, I assume that you sometimes have days where things might be delayed a bit. Like you can still go, but maybe you have to wait an hour or two for fog to clear. I assume that happens sometimes also. Yeah, exactly. , During that brief, we will go throughout the whole day process and there might be days where we decide it's nice in the morning and hey, two o'clock in the afternoon weather's gonna start to turn. And so to be aware of that and to brief the clients on that, that way. We have to cut the, the trip short for safety then. Yep. Everyone's kind of mentally prepared for that, , One of those things where plan for the whole day because we've had trips take off at 11:00 AM you know, that we're planned for eight, and based on the weather improving and getting safer, for us to get down there. And so, you know, it's at eight, nine o'clock in the night coming back, so, , so definitely stay flexible about the rest of your day so that, you know, if things are delayed a bit, that doesn't, you're not immediately getting on a plane to go somewhere else or something. Yeah. , The, the big thing is, when , you come to Emerald Air Service or any other bear, say, bear viewing company, the one thing that people, it's hard to really explain is, is the flying aspect of it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. On the really nice days where you can see miles and miles and miles. And on those days, the pilots, we do like to have a little bit of fun in the aspect of, showing people Alaska from the air. And we get a lot of people that didn't understand that the flight alone, sometimes people have gone off the airplane and said the flight alone was worth the money and the bears at that point were free. You know? Yes. Just so beautiful and incredible. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It really is. So Derick, since you're in Homer, I always like to ask people about their favorite restaurant or their favorite food in their town. Mm-hmm. But also, I'd love to know if there, I will ask you that in a minute, but first I'd love to know if there are things that you feel like visitors should really prioritize doing while they're in Homer. What are some of your top recommendations? Well, the top recommendations here, Homer's Homer Spit is a hub for great food shops. You know, coffee, Homer in general is what I consider a foody place, ? it's hard to walk into any restaurant and not be blown away with a. The quality of the food that you just eaten, you know? Thing I do know. Well, one thing across the Ketchum Mac Bay right there in Homer is KET Mima State Park, which has awesome trails, ? Yeah. They have a beautiful glacier of there that Gru glacier that you can go hike out to and see. , I think it's slowly changing, but it's, hasn't always been known for its bear viewing, but, , it's halibut. Fishing. You know, they consider Homer the halibut capital of the world. And so if you're a fishing enthusiast and, and love to get on the ocean and catch halibut and rockfish and salmon, they do a wonderful job here in Homer. Finding the spots and, and getting your, your catch there., But the beautiful thing is that there's so many beaches. , I kind of forget being that I've lived here, you know, 14 years that. Just being able to get out and walk on a beach and just have a nice relaxing, stroll. It's, actually incredible 'cause you're walking on the beach and you're looking across the water and you're seeing these white, top mountains and, and forestry, everywhere you kinda look and you got volcanoes in the distance and, um, it's, it's actually really magical. It's just a beautiful place here. It is beautiful. It really is. Okay. Do you have a favorite restaurant? I know it's really tough call. It is tough can I do a dinner and then a lunch and breakfast? Yes, you can. Perfect. All right. For dinner, it's hard to beat fresh catch. I mean, you're right on the water. It's very laid back. It's very delicious. The owners are there cooking away. Um, and it is just the environment. The food is amazing. It's just one of those places that it just feels like Alaska, you're right on the water. You're looking out the window and the ocean's right there. I mean, it's just, it's wonderful. Mm-hmm. . And that's one of those places that if you are planning to come up to Alaska, it's one of those places to get a reservation. A week out. Yeah. It's a busy, it's, very busy there. So, um, and, and for lunch, lane is by far lunch, breakfast spot. It's right there on the spit intermixed with all the different shops and cool things to go see. They have coffee and, it's a, it's delicious. Breakfast stuff and lunch stuff. So yeah, those would be my go-to now. I could probably list about 10 more Homer really does have amazing restaurants, especially for how small it is. Okay. Derick, before I let you go, I'd love to know what your biggest piece of advice is. For people coming to Alaska for the first time. Ooh, out of 170 podcasts, I'm probably sure you would have heard this before. Okay, try me. But I would tell people, I would tell people that are coming to Alaska to slow down. Don't, don't try to overplan everything. Alaska. Alaska isn't a place. You just check off the list, right? Mm-hmm. The weather changes, wildlife moves. And sometimes the best experiences, you know, happen when things don't go exactly as planned. Yeah. You know, so, so give yourself some buffer time. Stay flexible and lean into the experience instead of like trying to control it, you know? Yeah. You know, if you can get off the road system, like I said, only center of Alaska has access through the road system, so that, yeah. You know, that's. When you're off the road system, that's where, in my opinion, Alaska really starts. That's where the magic is. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Alaska usually rewards the people who give it time. So yeah, you know, it's possible. Something very similar to that has come up one or two other times, slow down and not, not for me, you know, when you're driving speed up. Yeah. Yeah, exactly, exactly. When I first came up to Alaska and I did the drive from Anchorage to Homer, it was, you look out the window and you're kind of in amazement. You know? It's always like that,? I don't know if they say it nowadays. It's a postcard everywhere you look. Yeah. You could take a picture and make it a postcard and people will think how beautiful it was. Yeah. And it's the whole drive. There's not a spot where you can't stop, take a picture, and someone would be blown. Blown away with totally what you're seeing. Now just imagine that from the air. Yeah. Right. It's like that times a bajillion. Well, Derick, it has been so fun having you on the podcast and talking about bear viewing and flying around Homer, 📍 thank you so much for coming on. Well, thank you for having me. If you enjoyed this episode, Jay and I would love to have you leave us a rating and or a review on whatever podcast platform you've listened to, and I know that every podcast host says this in every episode. That the reason is it really makes a difference in people being able to find us on whatever platform it is you're using. So other users of that same platform find us more easily. We get recommended more often, which helps us grow our listeners, which is super important for being able to keep doing this. So thank you so much for taking a moment to do that, and we'll see you next week.
