On a rare clear evening a moonrise from the front deck of Grizzly Bear Lodge on Minstrel Island. The marine evening overcast is common but it does burn off by mid morning. Guests and staff always enjoy a clear evening.
The Lodge
All about Sailcone’s Grizzly Bear Lodge
There’s lots to see and do right here at the lodge. Some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities are right outside your window. The trip here on the float plane is a scenic one with lot’s of great photo opportunities.
Immature Bald Eagle
Adult plumage develops when a bald eagle become sexually mature; it takes five years for a bald eagle to attain solid white head and tail feathers. For the first five years they gradually change; the beak turns from black to yellow, the eyes from brown to pale yellow, body feathers from mottled to dark brown, and head and tail feathers from mottled to solid white. This eagle is close to maturity if you compare it to September 11th posting it’s head is not full white, the beak is not bright yellow or the eyes pale yellow.
Bald Eagle Catching
Not all fishing attempts by bald eagles are successful and if they do not succeed it is still a pleasure to watch. In the tour area of Grizzly Bear Lodge there are many mating pairs of eagles and it does not matter if you are on a grizzly, whale or the extra day trip you will see eagles. Actually when you are sitting on the front deck of the lodge eagles fly overhead.
Grizzly Bear Lodge
Almost a complete photo. It shows the dock and boats used on the three different day trips. One up Knight Inlet to the grizzly bears, a second to Johnstone Straits to the marine wildlife, and the third to Trapper Rick’s if you choose to stay the extra day. Next the main lodge which normally accommodates six guests has a large deck where guests spend their time off the water sharing pictures. The next building is owners, Angus and Krystle’s cabin. Missing just past this is the water front cabin, which accommodates two more guests bringing the lodge total to eight. So if you want to avoid the crush of a lodge with thirty plus guests you are reading the right blog.
Black Bear Island Hopping
When you come to Grizzly Bear Lodge all tours that leave the lodge are by boat because we are on an island which is one of several hundred in the area at the mouth of Knight Inlet. If you click on “Google Map Of Itinerary” at the top of this page, then click on the green square in the lower left corner and this becomes a Google Earth Map. It is then possible to zoom in to view the number of varying sized islands. The point of all this is to show that if a bear wants to move around in the area at some time it must swim. This bear is not a particularly fat bear or you would see more of it’s back out of the water but they are interesting to follow as long as you stay back to one side so as not to prevent them from going ashore. However at times we have blocked them from shore when that shore happens to be our island.
Grizzly Bear Lodge Sunrise
Cannot guarantee a beautiful sunrise every morning but most mornings are overcast due to the moderating effect of Knight Inlet. Knight Inlet is the largest of the major inlets in the southern part of British Columbia’s West Coast. It is 111 km (69 miles) in length and about 2.9 km (1.8 miles) wide on average. This area of the BC coast tends to become overcast in the evening and clears before noon but it is rare to see the stars at night or a morning sunrise. For picture taking the overcast is better than a bright sun when you are in a boat with the reflection of the water.
Black Bears on the Beach
Finding black bears on the beach is a cooperative effort that includes the guests and guide. If you notice the top half of the beach is in a dark shadow and that makes bears hard to spot when you are running the boat and scanning the beach. All the eyes in the boat need to be on the search for black bears to be successful. It may be the guides “job” but we will gladly take all help and are willing to stop to check even if it is occasionally a rock or log because most of the time it is a bear.
“Two For One” Bald Eagles
Bald eagles are sexually mature at four or five years of age and this is indicated by the fact they now have their white heads. When they are old enough to breed, they often return to the area where they were born. It is thought that bald eagles mate for life and thus when we are running along the shore on tours from Grizzly Bear Lodge if you see one eagle the other will be close. It is not very common to have them in the same tree as it narrows the area for fishing but is does give one a chance to determine which is the female. The female is the larger of a mated pair in this case I think the higher of the two but unless they are side by side on a branch it is hard to tell.
Black Bear are shore bears
As I have said before “Black bears are where you find them” and they are found on all the trips that leave the Lodge. On grizzly bear tours running up Knight Inlet, whale watching safari to the Johnstone Strait or on the extra day to trapper Rick’s. Black bears are frequently along the shore searching for food. This bear was on an actual black bear tour we take on the evening that you arrive at the lodge. We travel through the local area for about an hour and a half looking for black bears, eagles, seals and other marine wildlife.
Arrival Day 5 of 5
Back at the lodge and it is time to eat again. The lodge is known for its excellent food (check TripAdvisor) and this night it looks like Seafood Paella and Greek salad also somewhere on the table is fresh homemade bread and wine (white or red). Dinner is a social affair as you eat with your guides around a large table and this means the meal and conversation will last several hours.
