LOOKING FOR GRIZZLY BEARS.
Day 302 – Just to be fair here, we won’t build way up to an exciting conclusion…..we did not see any Grizzly Bears. On this trip. But everyone on this trip did get a voucher for a free trip in the future, AND we were able to book our next trip on the day before we leave Vancouver Island – Monday, August 15. Now, that was lucky!
We thoroughly enjoyed this day-long boat trip into Knight Inlet and its return to Telegraph Cove. We were up very early this morning. The girls wondered why on earth we were feeding them breakfast when it was still dark. We arrived at Telegraph Cove at 6:20 a.m., got a parking space, and walked to the end of the dock at the marina. Tide Rip Grizzly Bear Adventure Tours checked everyone in, made sure they each had filled out and signed the waiver forms, then passed out coffee or tea to everyone. They directed us to our breakfast choices which we all grabbed and most people ate their items at the dock before we boarded at 7 a.m. (Breakfast offerings included Muffins, Yogurt, Protein Bars, and an Apple. We don’t usually eat that early, so we took ours with us and ate it later.)
There were three boats. We’d been assigned a particular boat when we checked in. The Guide to each boat called out the boat’s name and each group then boarded. Each boat held 11 passengers in addition to the Skipper and Guide. Our boat was the “Grizzly Girl”. Our Skipper was Jean Luc and our Guide was Ishbelle. Our boat was fairly new, our Skipper was the most experienced of the three and with the company the longest, and our Guide was from England and was the best-informed and most personable Guide we’ve had thus far. The passengers were really nice, too – we had a family of four from England (the kids were in their late teens), a family of five from the U.S. (mom & dad & two teen-aged daughters from PA, plus mom’s sister from NC), and us. A friendly bunch, it all worked out really well.
This morning when we got up, and until about 9 a.m., we were in dense fog and we couldn’t see much around us. Then the fog burned off to full sunlight for the rest of the day. The wind was calm and the seas were almost like glass earlier; later in the day there was a little wind and the water got a bit rougher. It was not uncomfortable at all, though. Tide Rip had stressed that it could get quite cold and wet, so everyone should dress in layers and bring warm jackets/rain gear. They were wrong this time. We never even took our warm clothing out of the bags we’d packed it into. It was comfortably warm once the sun came out. When we got back to the dock at 4:10 p.m., it was 70 degrees. PERFECT weather for a day-long boat ride.
The three boats (Grizzly Girl, Silver Bear, and Eagle 53) started off from Telegraph Cove one after another, but quickly spread out somewhat so that the boats’ wakes didn’t interfere with each other. They kept in touch via VHF radio. We traveled east from Vancouver Island across Johnstone Strait through the Broughton Archipelago, a grouping of islands that dot the sound and lead to the British Columbia mainland. This part of the trip was fairly fogged in, yet we could still see that it was incredibly beautiful. We could see below the tree-line the different colored rocks and granite that were exposed due to the low tide. When we returned in the afternoon, the tide was high and the trees reached the sea, the mountains towering above the water. Just gorgeous.
As we approached the coast of the BC mainland, we saw narrow inlets and the boats entered one of them – Knight Inlet – where the tall hills and trees were much closer to each side of the boat. This was the Great Bear Rainforest, a protected area full of waterways teeming with fish and estuaries, protected by Provincial Parks, Marine Parks, and Conservancies. There were no homes or communities. This was nature at its best.
There are no roads that show up on a map; we did see a few logging roads. There were no cars. There was a floating building that chartered boats that served scuba divers. There was the floating Knight Inlet Lodge that is First Nation owned & operated, offering multi-day adventure trips. The only way to reach it was by seaplane or boat. And there was an inlet where boats could get gas – at a small marina.
(When driving to Vancouver on the mainland, the highway north of the City only goes so far, then you have to take ferries to go further north several times until the road ends. There is no more road after that along the west coast of British Columbia. The highway stops above Powell River at Lund. It’s not like the east and west coasts of the U.S. where you can drive the whole way. Above Lund, you are in the wilderness, reached only by plane or boat. Knight Inlet extends inland and north to almost equal with the northernmost land on Vancouver Island. The islands between the mainland and Vancouver Island are called the Inside Passage.)
As we entered Knight Inlet, Jean Luc slowed the boat to a stop. There was a Black Bear swimming across the narrow channel in front of the boat. Even though it was foggy, the cameras were clicking away as everyone enjoyed this paddle. We didn’t know it at the time, but were told when we were back on our way – it is rare to see Bears swimming across a channel that way even though bears are great swimmers.
While we were motoring out to our destination to see Grizzlies, Ishbelle kept up a constant stream of chatter – giving us more information on bears and our surroundings than we ever imagined. A bundle of happy energy, she absolutely loved what she was doing. We learned how to tell the difference between all the bears – and believe it or not, not all Black Bears are black and some are as large as Grizzly Bears, and some Grizzly Bears are dark like Black Bears, but there are some key things you look for (like differences in their ears, their claws, the size of their footprints and placement of their “thumbs”, their snouts and some Black Bears look like they have “the hump”, so you have to look at everything as a whole from head to toe, rather than are they big, brown and have a hump – like you have time to stop and do that when a bear is running after you in the wild, LOL.)
Black Bear claws are much smaller than a Grizzly Bear claw and Black Bear claws are curved and sharp on the end so the can climb trees. Grizzlies can climb trees but they don’t do it as often and their claws are more for maiming their prey. See the picture below.
We learned a lot more but I am getting tired of typing. Ask us in person next time you see us, and if we are not too old to remember anymore, we’ll tell you. LOL.
Anyway, moving on: The fog was lifting and all three boats met up at the Tide Rip loading dock near the estuary where we expected to find Grizzly Bears. We all got off our boats and boarded three flat-bottomed boats for our trek into the shallow waters. We saw Seals, Deer, Bald Eagles, Sea Gulls, Red-Necked Grebe, Kingfishers, Ravens, Swallows, Purple Martins, etc. But no Grizzlies. We spent an hour and a half out there. Nothing. Not that it was terrible where we were! Beautiful scenery, peaceful (everyone had to be quiet so no one scared a bear away), a breeze and slightly swaying boat, and sunshine – um, what more do you want – but eventually the three flat-bottomed boats returned to the dock where we were given our lunches: wraps with veggies and hummus (not sure what the meat eaters got), potato chips, cookies, and beverage of choice (no alcohol of course). We stayed at the dock for about an hour. One of the Skippers pulled up a trap and we all got to see a Crab up close and personal. Then it was time to go back out to the estuary and try again to find the elusive Grizzlies.
We got back into our flat-bottomed boats and repeated the earlier journey into the grassy estuary (the Bears eat these grasses). We waited around and traveled to other inlets and small bays. Nothing. We heard a rumor that the day before Bears had been spotted “between the two waterfalls because the Salmon were running”. Whatever, we never did spot a Grizzly, but we had a great time. And it wasn’t for lack of trying……
We all met back up at the floating dock and everyone got back into their original boat. The three boats took off separately. Our crew kept trying to find bears rather than going back to Telegraph Cove early. We got to see so much amazing scenery and it was such a beautiful day. Our crew, particularly Ishbelle, was disappointed. They said we were the first trip this entire season that did not see Grizzly Bears, that they almost ALWAYS saw them. And of course, they told us about getting another free trip next time we were in the area. (Easier said than done for those from England.)
We stopped at a little inlet for gas and got out of the boat to stretch our legs. Most of the group went up to a little building for an ice cream. We hung out on the dock watching Purple Martins catch bugs and fly into nesting houses to feed their young.
On the way back to Telegraph Cove we saw Seals on rocky islands. Our crew were still looking for bears. They went to every bay and inlet they could think of between the estuary in Knight Inlet to Telegraph Cove, and still no bears. They never gave up. At one point they saw a Humpback Whale blow in the distance and headed that way. There were also a couple of whalewatch boats hanging out there – a sure sign that there’s a whale. But, no whale when we got there and the whalewatch boats were leaving.
We arrived back at the homeport dock at 4:10 p.m. Everyone stopped by the Tide Rip office on the dock to pick up their vouchers for free trips. When we picked ours up, we checked to see if they had any availabilities within the next six days – our last days on Vancouver Island. They could indeed fit two people on their Monday trip. So we are going out again our last day here.
We were starving – all that fresh air can do that to you – so we had dinner at Telegraph Cove on the pier at Killer Whale Cafe & Restaurant. It was very good. We sat outside overlooking the marina. We could see the three boats that took us all out today. Back at the RV, we are sure we’ll sleep well tonight!