All posts by Lodge Guide

Steller Sea Lions Pose for Guests

Stellar sea lions

Whale watching safari trips from the Grizzly Bear Lodge include more than humpback whales and orca.  The water-ways between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland abound in marine based wildlife: eagles, large variety of ducks and water fowl, white-sided dolphins, dall’s porpoise, harbour porpoise, harbour seals and of course stellar sea lions. A safari trip without viewing a majority of these is not considered a good day. These steller sea lions migrate between California and Alaska in the spring and fall and in the past few years some have made the area their year round residence.

 

 

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

The morning run up Knight Inlet on the grizzly bear tour is always interesting.  It is a spectral view, Grizzly Bear Lodge is located approximately 20 miles from the mouth, and the grizzly viewing area starts another 25 miles up the inlet, which is about 90 miles long. Eagles are abundant on the morning run this one being in the Glendale estuary the primary grizzly bear viewing area.  Eagles are not always in trees it is not uncommon to watch them pick up a fish from the water and then land on shore to eat the “catch of the day”. This bald eagle with talons open was coming in to catch a late breakfast.

 

 

Grizzly swim / play time

Grizzlies in river mouth

Some days the grizzly bear watching in July and early August are quite warm so it is unlikely this was a “bath” rather think back on a hot day that you may have experienced and add a heavy fur coat. They are in the Glendale River estuary, which is a mixture of fresh and salt water so their coat will not contain much salt when dry.  The sedge grass along the shore is the main reason for the grizzly bears to be in the area as the salmon to not appear until late August.

 

 

Grizzly Bears Snorkeling

Grizzly Bears Swimming

Grizzly bears are great swimmers and are commonly seen in the water in the river estuaries of BC’s Knight Inlet.  They swim so well that they have now migrated across Johnstone Strait to Vancouver Island and this is between one and a half to a two-mile swim.  The area biologists put radio collars on ten grizzly bears about twelve years ago and one of the bears crossed Knight Inlet five times. The two bears in this photo are swimming with the salmon in the Glendale River the site of the viewing stands Grizzly Bear Lodge uses every fall. They are looking for dead salmon that have drifted down the river to settle in a deeper pool.  It is easier to pick up these fish than chase others.

 

Grizzly Bear Reunion

Friends

Not an easy picture to explain as a mother grizzly with cubs is not normally that friendly with other bears. This is Bella in the back with one of her two cubs (I could not get all into one picture.) meeting with juvenile siblings in the Glendale River estuary. And no these are not her previous cubs but she seems to have accepted them as family and we frequently saw them together over the summer. Talking with the other guides in the area we could not understand the behaviour but we accepted it as it made for some great photos as the five of them got together and played.

 

 

Humpback Whale

Humpback lobtailing

“Humpbacks also stick their tail out of the water into the air, swing it around, and then slap it on the water’s surface; this is called lobtailing. It makes a very loud sound. The meaning or purpose of lobtailing is unknown, but may be done as a warning to the rest of the pod. Humpbacks lobtail more when the seas are rough and stormy.” A quote from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Our guest are not always interested in the reason behind mammal’s behaviour but they sure do want the photographs. The numbers of humpback whales that are staying in our viewing area all summer are increasing every year so these photos are becoming common.

 

 

BEST GUEST BLOG

Please.

This is a great site to visit to get a “guest eye view” of a trip to our lodge.

Click on this link

http://www.masey.com.au/2010/08/dream-grizzly-trip-day-one/

Also: -if you search “You Tube” using the keyword SAILCONE you can view some videos from and about the lodge.

-and on Facebook at Grizzly Bear Lodge and Safari

 

To view a map of the lodge’s area and the location of each day’s itinerary”

Look to the left and scroll the sidebars to “Pages” and select “Google Map of Grizzly Bear Lodge Itinerary”

It is possible to navigate the map using the arrows in the upper left corner and to zoom using the + or – signs as well as changing to a satellite view in the upper right corner of the map.

Spring Grizzly Bears

Grizzly and cubs on Log

These cubs are about eight months old and still stay pretty close to their mother. Our spring and early summer grizzly bear trips travel up Knight Inlet and we start looking for grizzlies along the shore for that last half hour of an hour and a quarter boat ride. On this day we had changed in to the river skiff, which allows us to travel in the shallow water of the river before we saw bears. When in the river your guide is in the water pulling the boat up river and this permits a slow and quite approach to the bears. They are not frightened and this produces some amazing photographs.

 

Bald Eagle in Flight

Bald Eagle

Glen, one of the Lodge guides, takes many excellent photos and allows me to use them on the blog. He would likely have deleted this photo because part of the wing tip is missing but I have lower standards.  Bald eagles are a favourite subject for our guests and I am sure many would be happy with this photo, as they do not have three months to capture the “peeeerfect” picture.