When we woke and looked out of the window there was a 'pea souper' of a fog outside. Would it affect our trip, through the islands to Bute inlet, on the mainland, to see grizzly bears?
We arrived at the dock just after 8am along with our fellow travellers and the good news was the boat was being readied. The fog was still thick but you could see the sun trying to burn it off. Our captain for the day was Nick, an experienced mariner; he decided to set off in a northerly direction using his radar and sounding his fog horn at regular intervals. We went through clearing patches so were hopeful the fog would soon disappear. In one of those patches we watched a large pod of pacific white sides dolphins moving, fishing and occasionally leaping. The clearing fog and the landscape made for some spectacular and novel images. We made good progress and actually arrived at Bute inlet early. The bear watching operation is run by the local First Nations tribe so we waited for them to come and collect us - another group of visitors were just finishing their trip. We were taken to the reception centre in a pick up truck -where we saw a gaggle of men working hard on one of their tour buses having put the wrong fuel in yesterday - a short tourist season doesn't need this does it !
We had a coffee while we waited for our guide; looked at the pictures of bears and read the displays looking at the history of the area; we then clambered into a minibus and headed off into the forest and their viewing platforms. After about 5 minutes we spotted a mother and cubs feeding by a small channel - the mother had a long white tape poking out of her rear end - we had heard how some get tapeworms through eating the salmon and this was evidence of one being ejected. As we got out of the van the bears disappeared into the bushes.....a good omen nonetheless. We then went to the main viewing stand - no waiting needed - there was mother and 3 cubs on the edge of the river - we watched them for ages fishing and playing. A little one stood on his hind legs to get a better look downstream and 2 more cubs and a mum appeared but as our 4 walked towards them they disappeared back into the bushes. Sadly our 4 disappeared as well - with no bears to watch we looked at the salmon - spawning and taking their last gasps- those who had already taken their last gasp were now rotting on the edge and filling the air with 'eau de rotting fish'..... a necessary adjunct to bear watching - no pain no gain as they say! Some of the fish were being eaten by gulls further symbolic wildlife of the salmon run. The inlet was idyllic - two tributaries in close proximity - one cloudy and fed by glaciers the other clear and from a different source, gravel shores and rising wooded hillsides enclosing them. Our patience paid off as the mother and cubs returned and walked right past our platform; they played and ate on a log near us (today's picture). As they moved in, two juveniles feeding in the channel moved out. Sadly we had to leave but what a great experience -I took a few last photos from ground level as we made our way back to the bus; all aboard we headed back to the reception centre. As we passed one glacial tributary we saw one last mum and cub standing in the river looking for salmon.
Brilliant - 14 bears seen - we could not have hoped for more! Back on boat we set off munching our lunch - John had the turkey half of my sandwich and I had the cheese and cranberry side of his - the reconfigured sandwiches worked well for both of us!
Another boat had seen orcas on the way up and we were hopeful we might see them on the way back. Nick was an 'Orca nut' and had an identification book with details of the locally known pods. Nick spoke to another boat and we headed in their direction - yes we saw two adult males and stayed with them as they made their way purposefully up the inlet. The pod also includes their mother and younger brother but we didn't see them - nonetheless we had great views. Satiated we headed back around the South of the islands and hoped, with an imminent storm heading our way, that the sea wouldn't be too lumpy. Today was our lucky day the weather was warm and the sea was flat.
Back in dock we said goodbye to our fellow travellers and reflected on our best day of bear and wildlife watching this trip.
We headed off to the shops to buy some dinner as given our lovely apartment a DIY dinner was easy - we opted for macaroni cheese and vegetables in sauce.....all easy to microwave and cook onto of the stove.
Back at Herons Landing and as it was still so nice outside I decide to go for a run along the dedicated path by the inside passage. It was just so fresh and brilliant knowing I was gasping in some of the cleanest air......difficult to believe that by tomorrow a big storm will have hit!