We offer an exceptional fly-in lodge for Grizzly Bear Watching and Whale Watching in British Columbia.
Learn about What’s happening at the Lodge, view our British Columbia’s Wildlife Report, read our Grizzly Bear Watching Blog and Whale Watching Blog. Learn more about a Day on the River Blog, see Our Tour Guide’s Photos & Blog and Photos from Our Guests.
Unlike humpback whales the tail slapping of killer whales seems to be a playful activity of the Northern Resident Whales we watch. It can occur when they are close to your whale watching boat even if their are no other pods of orca in the area. The underside is mainly white in contrast to the black from the top of their tail. This behaviour is less frequent than with the humpbacks.
Their is no consensuses amount the scientific community for tail slapping or lobtailing by humpback whales. The reasons range from communication to feeding habits. In our viewing area of the Johnstone Strait it seems to occur more often on days with a little chop on the water. The reasons is not as important as the fact that it happens three or four times a week and is always spectacular. And even more attention getting is that it is often accompanied by breaching.
Reporting a pectoral fin as an orca dorsal fin will lead to several days of radio talk about ones eye sight and value as a guide. The best policy is to make sure one see the “complete mammal” before reporting.
Humpback whales have extraordinarily long pectoral fins, nearly one third the length of the whale. The length and shape of the pectoral fins facilitate the graceful movement humpbacks are known for, even allowing the whale to swim backwards and turn on a dime. These long pectoral fins are where humpbacks get their scientific name Megaptera novaeangliae or “big-winged New Englander”. On foggy mornings they have been reported as killer whale dorsal fin as will be shown in the next posting….
These three bears are walking up the river to the holding pool were the salmon wait until they move up to and over the weir into the spawning channel. The second stand in on the bank beside the pool which contains the salmon that these bears are coming to catch.
June 4th mentions the viewing stands we use. There are two stands on a Knight Inlet river. The first is located directly opposite the entrance to the man made spawning channel. If you take the time to go to to “Categories” and select “Wildlife Tour Itinerary” on the left side of this posting you will have an excellent aerial view of our viewing area. The metal weir in this photo is to maintain the water level for the spawning salmon. We normally use the second stand as it has a more natural setting as tomorrow’s post will show….
This grizzly bear was about two hundred meters (yards) from the loading ramp in yesterday’s post. It was not concerned as we moved slowly along the shore and made our way back to the dock for lunch. It was taking a break from chasing salmon on the river as the tide was to low and the salmon were just out of reach in the deeper pools. Once the tide rose some the bear was back on the river as the salmon were able to move up the river to the spawning areas.
We are permitted to use the grizzly bear viewing stands on the Glendale River after August 24th. Our viewing time is from 10:00 am to noon and after that we return to the float for a picnic lunch. Prior to this date the skiff is used to cruse the shore of Knight Inlet’s Glendale Cove and to go up the river itself. On this day we took a detour along the shore to view the grizzly in tomorrow’s posting….
Low tide after a rain and the bald eagles come out of the trees to dry. On these small rocky outcrops eagles get sun from all sides and it is easy to turn to take advantage of the warmth. In a tree it is warm on on side and damp on the other.
Our visit to Grizzly Bear Lodge
Please click on the above link to view a guest’s trip in PDF format.
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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