Day 308 – Yawn. We got up at 4:30 a.m. I am NOT a morning person. If everyone was like me, what a grouchy world there would be. (If everyone was like Rob, we’d all spring out of bed all chipper and happy. That would be better.) The girls were like: “What, more food? It’s so EARLY. But…..If we must eat, we will chow down…….” They are troopers.
The boat trip has been documented previously and there were few differences. Same Skipper, Jean Luc (we requested him), same breakfast and lunch, different boat (this time it was Eagle 53), different guide, Sue (she was good), different passengers with us (this time representing England, Czech Republic, Germany, NY, Canada), and this time we saw Grizzly Bears. Five of them! A young male, females, and a youngster.
The first was in an inlet on the way to the estuary when we were still traveling in the Eagle 53; that was the young male. Then, after stopping at the Tide Rip floating dock and changing to the flat-bottomed boats, we headed for the estuary where they usually have most of the bears. The reason why the estuary is popular with the Grizzlies is that lots of Sedge grows there. It is a tall grass that contains 25% raw protein and the bears love it. They also love crustaceans and other fish. We spent a long time watching Bella, a 25 to 30-year-old female, as she ate Sedge, turned over rocks looking for crab, and broke mussels off a rock to chew on. As we were leaving to go back to the floating dock for lunch, a female arrived; we saw her from the distance.
All three boats converged at the dock and we had lunch. As we were getting ready to get back on the flat-bottomed boats for another look at the estuary, one of the guides reported that a mother and her baby had arrived. We were all asked if we’d prefer to go to different locations next or would we rather go back to the estuary. Everyone shouted mother and baby. People from all over the world are suckers for babies. Well, “Baby” turned out to be more like large toddler, but still………..GRIN and HAPPY DANCE.
We stayed again at the estuary for quite awhile viewing the bears. At first the female that was just arriving when we left for lunch was still there. But the main focus was on junior. Later mama and baby wandered off and we spent the rest of our time viewing the female. See all five bears below.
The weather started out with very dense fog. You couldn’t see much even if it was in front of your face. There was a beautiful sunrise as we drove towards Telegraph Cove. When the fog burned off, it turned into a great day, with upper 60’s, some wind, some sun and clouds. For the preceding days, the forecast had been for rain all day today and all day tomorrow (our ferry trip through the Inside Passage). As we approached today, the rain began moving to the Wednesday, Thursday timeframe. YAAA.
Other sightings were of Caspian Terns, Purple Martins at the Lagoon Marina where we filled with gas, a Kingfisher, and we saw Bald Eagles. Again we stopped for gas like our last trip. At the marina there was a flag museum and in addition to the Purple Martins, we got a few museum pictures. We got back to the dock at Telegraph Cove at 3:45 p.m.
A busy evening ahead, we knew we wouldn’t have time to work on the blog – between us we took almost 2,000 pictures. Since we had to get up very early again, we needed to pack up as much of the RV as we could, in advance, eat dinner early and hopefully get to bed as early as possible. Sixteen to seventeen hours on a ferry tomorrow. Also, the girls are busy. They are packing their little bags to take with them when they run away from home.
For more detailed information about Quatse River Campground,click here.
