As mentioned yesterday the behaviour of the orca varies day to day and is highly advanced. This whale is “spy hopping”. What the whale is basically doing is having a look at what is happening above the water line. Orca have advanced echolocation “sonar” abilities, which allows them to detect objects and animals underwater with pinpoint accuracy. They also like to check out what is happing above them as this orca is demonstrating.
Orca are highly intelligent and incredibly sociable animals. There behaviour varies day to day. They are often travelling, foraging and resting, but they do take time for play and socializing as well. This whale is basically standing on his head and doing a little bit of “tail lobbing”.
Roy is a male Grizzly Bear that we have commonly been seeing on our river trips. It is very rewarding to recognize certain bears and watch their behaviour over a season, or several seasons for that matter. Roy got his fair share of salmon and was looking fat and healthy by the end of the season. All set for a good six months of hibernation.
These Orca are resting in the waters of Johnstone Strait. Whales are voluntary breathers, which means unlike us they have to think about every breathe that they take. When whales rest they shut down half of their brain and close the opposite eye. They reverse this process, so that both sides of their body is able to rest. This lets the animal rest, but also breathe and watch for danger.
Just like that another season has come to an end. We are grateful for all the wonderful staff and the guests this season. It was an excellent season and we are already looking forward to next May.
One of the highlights of the season was all of the new cubs out. It was awesome to see so many new cubs of the year and that is great news for our bear populations moving forward. We had great spring viewing and this continued through summer. On our river trips we started to see salmon arriving in August and enjoyed some great shoulder season viewing. The fish at the viewing platforms were a little late showing up this year, but viewing during late September at the platforms was great and the estuary viewing remained strong throughout the season.
Out in the whale watching world it was another year that saw large numbers of resident Orca who remained in the area right into October. The Humpback viewing was also great with large numbers feeding in Blackfish Sound. It is so amazing to have these magnificent animals back in our waters in such numbers.
Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We rebuilt the front deck last spring, utilising cedar cut on site. We will continue with some siding, rooms improvements and hopefully a floating sauna ready for the start of our season.
2026 is already looking like a very busy season for us. We only have limited high season availability so please book early to ensure we have space for your group.
Looking forward to seeing you next year
Angus Reid
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