Each day our guides see something new, it never gets old for these guys. Check out some of their photos from guiding bear and whale watching excursions.
Grizzly bear’s mating time is late May through June in the Glendale River area of Knight Inlet. It is also the same time that the mother grizzlies are bringing their new cubs to the estuary area for the first time. This is potential a dangerous mix as males have been known to kill cubs as it is believed that the females will come into season. The courtship we watched unfold seemed to involve an uninterested female who was trying to avoid the male. The male was following her along the beach until she took to the water and eventually swam past the bow of our boat. The male was undeterred and wadded along the shore to keep pace with the female. This continued up the delta grassland of the estuary until they disappeared in to the surrounding forest.
After catching the pink salmon in the river at Trapper Rick’s it is a short journey to thinking of a fishing trip to the lodge and catching the larger Chinook salmon. Grizzly Bear Lodge has a partner website under “Sailcone Wilderness Fishing Lodge” for guests interested in a few days fishing or guest who salmon fish while their spouses enjoy the wildlife viewing. In this case a guide had a day off and went salmon fishing and his catch became a photo opportunity for the guests.
Steller sea lions often “haul out” on the rocks near Stubs Island located not far from Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island. They pass through this area in the spring and fall traveling between California and Alaska. The sea lion numbers are on a decline along the West Coast of North America and a branding identification program has been underway for about fifteen years. “The two sites chosen to mark Steller pups were Pyramid Rock at Rogue Reef, Oregon and Southwest Seal Rock at St. George Reef in northern California. These sites are the largest Steller sea lion rookeries in the lower forty eight states. Steller sea lion pups were branded along the left flank. Sea lions branded at Rogue Reef, Oregon have a letter R following the numbered digit (i.e. 25R). Quote from Patrick J. Gearin NOAA, AFSC, National marine Mammal Laboratory” Several of these branded sea lions are seen each summer and sightings are reported.
On the whale watching day we frequently encounter pacific white side dolphins. The area along BC’s coast between Vancouver Island and the mainland has become a feeding area for the dolphins. Until twenty years ago they rarely appeared in fact so rare that native people did not have a name for them in their language. Now these dolphins are becoming more common in our viewing area. We see pods of several hundred.
This photo of a grizzly bear must be before all the fish appear in Knight Inlet’s Glendale River, as I do not see many fish in the water. Maybe why we have a “standing lean”, at least a better chance of seeing fish when they come. Our grizzly bear tours after August 25 leave the estuary and take place up the river where there is better chance of viewing bears as that is where the salmon are going to spawn.
On the grizzly bear tours and whale watching safari, boats form the lodge often travel together. This day Glen and I encountered a pod of white-sided dolphins who decided to play with the boats. Glen managed a great photo of my guests not believing what they are seeing.
Not all grizzly bears look “majestic” when you first see them. After diving for salmon their first appearance they look rather sad. Some of the bear’s fish in shallow water while other take to looking around sunken logs to trap fish. Wildlife viewing is never predictable and every tour is unique.
This grizzly bear cub because of the size is from late May or early June. The mother grizzlies bring their cubs to this part of Knight Inlet to feed on the beaches and turnover rocks. This inter-tidal zone “food” is high in protein and is made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. The “beach food” is important because the only plant food available at this time of the year is the sedge grass. Sedge grass also very high in protein and with inter-tidal zone food it keeps the grizzly bears in good health until the salmon arrive. And no the cub wad not alone on the beach but far enough from mother for a good solo picture. If you click on the photo to enlarge it and then zoom in the cub is not licking anything I can see just sticking out it’s tongue.
Our grizzly bear viewing area in British Columbia’s Knight Inlet is home to more than fifty bears. The abundance of salmon in our tours’ area reduces the need for bears to fight for the best fishing place. In fact the grizzly bears, big or small, seem to coexist with out much conflict. So it is hard to tell if this is serious or just playing. I was not present when the photo was taken.
It is hard to determine what happened in this photo which shows a humpback whale slowly sliding backward into the water as I was not present when the photo was taken. Lunge feeding occurs when a whale comes up suddenly under a school of herring and comes out of the water with its mouth wide open engulfing the herring and spraying water everywhere. Not mush spraying here. Not enough splash to be the remainder of a breach. My guess would be a young humpback after a less than successful lunge or maybe one that has been watching to many orca spyhopping?
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.
Grizzly bear’s mating time is late May through June in the Glendale River area of Knight Inlet. It is also the same time that the mother grizzlies are bringing their new cubs to the estuary area for the first time. This is potential a dangerous mix as males have been known to kill cubs as it is believed that the females will come into season. The courtship we watched unfold seemed to involve an uninterested female who was trying to avoid the male. The male was following her along the beach until she took to the water and eventually swam past the bow of our boat. The male was undeterred and wadded along the shore to keep pace with the female. This continued up the delta grassland of the estuary until they disappeared in to the surrounding forest.
