Guest Photos

A wildlife photographer’s dream!

We offer fantastic bear and whale watching opportunities at Sailcone’s Grizzly Bear Lodge, your guests’ photos prove it!

Do you have your own photos to add from your stay with us? Please click here to email us!

Anette and family visit 1 of 7

large male orcaAnette’s visit was September 3, 2015 and she has sent us some first class photos of their time with us last season. She provides: “A little story to go with some of the pictures: We had a great day spotting whales with George. Our son Nicolas (12 at the time) summed it up when he exclaimed “This is the best day of my life”. At that time we had had a long day with lots of orcas, including the bull on the picture who chose to take his herd very close to the boat,……”

Guide’s delight 3 of 3

 humpback whale lunge feeding

This photo was NOT taken the same time as the previous two days posting. If I had seen whales I would not have gone that close to a herring ball. The point of locating a herring ball is to be “close by” when the humpback whales come to feed. “Close by” does not mean sitting on the herring ball as that would not be a comfortable or safe place to be located. This photo is thanks to Gary Wilson from Australia.

Whale Watching tour from the lodge

Grizzly bears are the “stars” of the lodge but time is spent looking for marine “wildlife” in the water off the East Coast of Vancouver Island. We normally manage to find eagles, orca, sealions, seals, dolphins, and humpback whales. All this and still time for a stop in Telegraph Cove to use the facilities and maybe grab a cup of hot chocolate or coffee.

Photos by 

Bruce & Carole Cripps 11-11

 

 

 

Whale Tail

Thanks to Felix (felixrome.smugmug.com/) for this photo of a rolling Humpback Whale cruising in Johnstone Strait.  A different perspective indeed.

humpback tail

Orca off coastal Vancouver Island

Some photos capture the majesty of the orca. This is a large male coming for a closer look. Often the best approach to viewing marine life in the area between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast is to sit quietly in the boat with engine turned off and allow visitors approach. Lunchtime on a whale watching tour involves drifting and waiting. Photos by 

 

Peter Palstring 5-6

Knight Inlet Grizzly Bears

Your grizzly bear tour provides for many opportunities for great photos. In the fall the salmon are in BC’s coastal rivers and this is a smorgasbord for the bears. Some grizzly bears spend time looking for fish to eat while others just eat. Some ot these brown bears fish the deep water to pick up dead fish while others prefer fish live. Both of these are deep water bears. After a day viewing bears return to the lodge and maybe a “hot tub”. Photos byBruce & Carole Cripps 4-11

completed.

For The Brids Pt3

These are a few birds that we see often in the estuary and main river while we are looking for Grizzly Bears.  The American Dipper, Cedar Waxwing and Belted Kingfisher.  The Kingfisher is particularly common and can be heard and seen in many areas including right by the lodge.


Deer In the Estuary

Grizzly Bears aren’t the only mammals that we encounter in the river estuary.  Blacktail Deer are also commonly sighted as they too like to feed on the protein rich Sedge Grass.

Bald Eagle Pair

Bald Eagles are a common and always welcome sight in our area.  They are an opportunistic feeders and although they don’t migrate they do tend to move around with the food.  In the spring we see large numbers of them in Blackfish Sounds feeding on the vast amounts of herring.  As the salmon enter the rivers many of these eagles do the same feeding on the carcases of spawned out salmon.  Eagles mate for life so when you see two of these birds together they are usually a pair.  It is hard to tell male from female in these birds, although the female eagle tends to be larger and has a slightly deeper call.

bald eagles on a grizzly river

Float Plane Trip to the Lodge

Your adventure actually begins even before you arrive at the lodge.  All of our guests fly in via floatplane from Campbell River on Vancouver Island.  It is a scenic 40 minute flight over countless islands and channels that dot the southern section of the Great Bear Rainforest.  The planes land on the water and park at the lodge’s dock.  No long lines at customs to deal with here!