sea lions on coastal BC

A real west coast

Adventure

humpback whale up close

Intimate experiences with

SMALL GROUP SIZES

Humpback whale

See a huge diversity

OF WILDLIFE

Simply Unforgettable

EXPERIENCES

Beautiful sky over pacific northwest with orcas in the water

Wildlife moments

TO TREASURE

About Grizzly Bear Lodge

At Sailcone’s Grizzly Bear lodge our goal is to share the natural beauty and true wilderness that we are so fortunate to have at our doorstep. With the high pace and stresses of today we offer a chance to escape into the vastness of the Great Bear Rainforest. Our experienced crew will look after all your needs and show you some amazing wildlife and scenery. After our tours there is time to relax with an ocean view, enjoy a local paddle board, chat to staff about the rich wildlife and culture in the area or enjoy a good book on the front lawn. Our dinners are served family style and offer both mouthwatering west coast dining along with great chances for conversation with knowledgable staff and a small group of guests from all over the world.

Our crew works hard to ensure that you see the maximum amount of wildlife and that it is viewed in a respectful manner. We try to keep our impact as low as possible, enjoying the animals in their natural environments, going about their natural behaviours. We are trained and knowledgeable and enjoy educating guests on the habits of the animals, history, and culture of the area.

Grizzly Bear Lodge And Safari Amenities

dining at sailconeWe offer you a small comfortable lodge or cottage with friendly people to look after you. Our lodge is located in a prime location in Knight Inlet allowing us easy access to world class Grizzly Bear watching up Knight Inlet and excellent whale watching near the mouth of the inlet and into Johnstone Strait.  Our group sizes are small, creating a personal experience that larger lodges can not offer.  After a full day viewing wildlife our guests all sit down together for dinner and share stories from the day.  Choose your trip from late May through mid October.

Location

sailcones lodgeMinstrel Island, where our lodge is located, is a small island on the edge of Knight Inlet. Not only does it have a colourful history but it is located perfectly for wildlife viewing – in the middle between the Grizzly river, our wild river and Johnstone Straits where the whales reside.  Our lodge is accessible only by float plane or boat.  We fly all of our guests in from Campbell River by float plane.  It is a short (half hour) flight with some great views along the way.See Location Map.

Boats

We use a covered 25′ cabin cruiser for our inlet trips.  It has a closed cabin and a heater for those cooler days with ample deck space for viewing outside.  We also use 17 ft speedboats for our whale watching trips.  Our whale watching trips are done on inside waters away from the ocean swell.  The open boats allow great 360 degree views and also have a retractable canopy to get out of the weather if need be.  All of our boats and Transport Canada Certified and have VHF radios, as well as backup motors and all the necessary safety equipment.  We supply you with sufficient equipment with any package that you choose. Boots, Suits, Rain Gear, Cooler Boxes are available at our lodge when needed.  Our guides average over 10 years of experience in the area and with a maximum of 5 guests per boat there is ample opportunity to have all of your questions answered.  All of our boats and crew are Transport Canada certified and we carry all required safety equipment.

There’s just one thing, Don’t forget your camera! A camera with a zoom lens and LOTS of film or digital storage space will insure that you capture tons of memories!

An adventure in BC’s Knight Inlet, on the Rain Forest Coast, that you will always remember.

Welcome to the wilderness adventure destination of your dreams!

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That’s a Wrap on the 2024 Season

Just like that our season has come to an end. I would like to thank all of our wonderful guests and staff who made this year a huge success. I am happy to stay that all of our team is planning to return next season. We are actively taking bookings, with dates starting June 1 2025. Hope to see many of you next season.

The wildlife viewing this season was awesome. A couple highlights that come to mind was the shear number of salmon in our local rivers, as well as the abundance of Resident Orca. With salmon returns being so strong this year, we were happy to see bears in excellent condition. By the end of our season most of the bears had packed on a lot of weight and were getting very “picky” about what parts of the salmon they would eat. Hopefully this will translate into more cubs being born this winter. Another positive was the weather conditions. We had enough rain to keep our fire risks low and it made for some excellent wild berries. The bears took full advantage of this, with the berry season extending far past its normal conclusion. This did mean that we had to work hard to find bears during our summer season, (as they were often feeding on the berries deep into the forest), but moving forward it is excellent that they had such an abundant food supply. The Humpbacks also didn’t disappoint, with great numbers and a few new calves returning with their mothers to feed. After a slower year for resident Orca sightings, this season was one of the best that I can remember. In fact as Im writing this the A62 and A23’s are still being spotted in the area by dedicated biologists. Strong numbers of Chinook and Chum salmon are providing them with a steady food source. There are a lot of positive signs and we are hopeful that 2025 will be another great season.

Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We plan on having a new cedar front deck built in time for the 2025 season, as well as new ceilings and paint in parts of the lodge and rooms. Theres always projects on the go.

Felix, Julien, Ryan, Zack and Myself all look forward to welcoming guest in June. See everyone soon.

Angus Reid

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