Bear Spray...

We carry a canister of bear spray on both cruise boats. It's mostly for demonstration purposes, but we do the meal cruises on Elk Island and there is the possibility of bear activity there. We call it "Bear MACE" so people know it is a completely different thing from "bug spray." Still, every year someone will spray it on their children, thinking it is bear repellent. It is not. You use it for self defense if you have a close encounter with a bear.

The active ingredient in the bear mace is about 10 times more potent than the mace used on human attackers. It is nasty stuff.

Today, my young first mate picked up the bear mace that we keep on the boat, got a shocked look on his face, then stuck his hand towards my face and said, "I think this stuff is leaking!"

It took about a nano-second before I got the first whiff... by eyes and throat started burning - I could see that my first mate was in pain. I told him to pull the plastic bag out of the garbage and quick double wrap the container. I sent him to the aft deck on the boat to flush his eyes out with water... of course, he had touched his hand to his face. I explained the passengers that we had a "situation" and asked them to open all the windows and for those close by where my first mate had been to move towards the back of the boat.

None of the passengers even got a hint of that stuff since we got it double bagged ASAP. As soon as we got back to the dock, I had one of the dock hands do the first mate's job of assisting the passengers down the steps and sent my first mate inside to flush out his eyes and get his hands washed and something on them to take out the sting. With the passengers off the boat, I went in to flush eyes and scrub up good... and I hadn't touched the stuff.

Neither of us is the worse for wear, but he will have an interesting story to tell, being able to speak personally about how nasty that stuff is.

Other than that, it was an absolutely beautiful day here in the Tetons... brisk in the morning for the breakfast cruise, but with the clear blue sky and abundant sunshine, it warmed up nicely. Mid-70s... short sleeves. Being maced not included, it was a lovely day. ;-)