I sit down at the River Rafter's Lodge which is the rendezvous, but of course I am four hours early. So I sit and wait and watch the planes arriving, the flowers waving in the wind, and the insects buzzing round the flowers. The sun shines for a bit, and it rains a bit too. Not too bad.
At 3.30 Bruce arrives. He unloads all his bags from the hired car he has and takes it back to the rental shack. He then shows me some photographs he has taken on other trips - tigers, big cats, whales. We talk for a while as we wait for the plane to arrive.
The Alaska Air 737 returns so I go and stand in the lobby with a big Earthwatch tag sticking out of my top pocket. First to spot me is Laura-Lee. Then Laura notices it. Then Jim says hi. No sign of Diane, so we head back to the lodge and Diane is just ahead of us. We're all together for the first time so its greetings all round.
We wait for someone to meet us. For a while. At 5.15 Bruce heads off to the car rental shop. He comes back, and tells us that he's found out that Cordova Air are expecting us by 6 o'clock. At 5.30 Bruce's impatience gets the better of him and he goes to find out what's happening. He returns to tell us that Robyn has forgotten that she has to pick us up, and is rushing out to get us.
Robyn arrives shortly afterwards and we all pile into the big old bus and start the journey to the lake. She tells us a bit about the history of the Copper River Delta and something about the wildlife. Its now raining quite heavily. We get to Lake Eyak and the rain is easing off slightly. I throw my gear into a plane with the two Lauras and the others jump into the next plane. Our pilot seems slightly eccentric, but that's what I'd expect from an Alaskan bush pilot. We accelerate off and then we're in the air. I can see the other plane taking off beside us, but there's not much of a view out of the front.
We do a big left turn and head back over the bus. Then we cross Cordova harbour and out across the ocean. A short hop over a small island brings us to Simpson Bay, and we make a soft landing and then both the planes cruise into Alice Cove. We hit the beach and jump out, where we're greeted by Randall, Fred, Lori and Rebecca.
First thing to arrange is the accommodation. There's a tent for two and a tent for four, and we are three guys and three girls. Randall makes an executive decision to put me in the tent with the three girls - I'm not complaining. Bruce and Jim have the small tent on the left, and the four of us are in the bigger tent on the right. We jump in and grab a bunk each. Randall shows us the facilities - heater, water. I pop over to the guys' tent to see how much room they have. Not a lot it seems!
We head up to Fred's cabin. This is where Randall, Lori, and Rebecca sleep. Fred has been evicted and spends nights on his boat, the Dancing Bear, moored just out in the Cove. Rebecca and Lori have prepared some snacks and dinner, which we eat and then head back down to the beach to sort out our sleeping bags and gear and settle down for a night's sleep.
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