Lunch is served on the whale watching trip. On a calm day nothing beats tying up to a kelp bed and watching humpbacks while you enjoy your packed lunch. It looks like there is a humpback incoming
Whale Watching
We’re not all about the bears, whales are abundant here too!
Killer whales and humpback whales are often seen during our wildlife tours. There are resident whales and transient whales that can be seen feeding and playing in our waters.
Black Bear Climbing Skills
Black Bears are often seen in our area and are excellent climbers. Unlike the Grizzly Bears they have short, sharp claws and can easily climb tress and move over harsh steep terrain. This bear was spotted on the way up Knight Inlet on a steep rock face overlooking the water.
Bald Eagles Scavenging
In late August Grizzly Bear Lodge uses viewing platforms on the Glendale River for our grizzly bear watching trips. At this time the salmon are in the rivers and many of the eagles have left the open ocean and feeding on herring to the easier scavenging on salmon remains from a grizzly bear kill. Scavenging is the most energy efficient way for getting meal. It is a matter of sitting in a tree until one is hungry and then moving to the river bank to eat.
Humpback Whale Playing 2 of 2
I counted nine breaches during that half hour. Some of the photos were only splashes but some were excellent breaches. As a guide I say “Luck is better than skill” and this was one of those lucky days. But I had a guest say: “The skill puts you in the right place so the luck can happen.”
Humpback Whale Playing 1 of 2
I remember this whale watching tour in August of this year because we followed this humpback whale for at least half an hour as it traveled down Blackfish Sound. It would spend time on the surface slapping its pectoral fin, rolling on its back and then lobtailing as shown in the above photo. After all that it would take a deep dive and we would be treated with tomorrow’s post photo….
Lunch Time Visitation 3 of 3
On days when there is not much tide running (this means we will more or less stay in one place) we do not tie to a kelp bed rather we have a drifting picnic lunch. This was a visitation from a baby harbour seal. It remained close to the boat for most of our picnic popping up around the boat either for protection or out of curiosity.
Lunch Time Visitation 2 of 3
On another day in August we had just spent about twenty minutes photographing about seventy-five Steller sea lions at one of their haulouts. We had move along the shore to a kelp bed so we would be up-wind of the noise and more importantly the smell when we had a visit. Again sitting quietly these sea lions were less than three meters (yards) from the boat and were more curious than frightened.
Lunch Time Visitation 1 of 3
Picnic lunches while whale watching normally are in the boat. The location of the lunches vary from day to day but often involve being tied to a kelp bed. The first photo provides some perspective as to the closeness of the humpback whale while the second shows that the whale was just enjoying a roll in the kelp bed. On this day we were about half way through our lunch as as you can see there not much boat traffic. With our engine turned off it was a very peaceful area and the whale was just doing what whales do when there is no one to disturb it’s natural behaviour.
A Killer Whale’s “What’s up?”
Spy hopping is coming out of the water and staying above the surface the same way a human treads water. Some adult male killer whales spy hop for longer periods of time and get as much as half of its body above the surface of the water. Orcas spy hop to examine its surroundings and it is believed that an Orca can see as well above the surface as it can below. If an Orca hears anything strange, they may spyhop to see what is approaching. This past summer the Whale Research vessel in our area was using a drone for observation and we noticed much more spy hopping while the drone was in the air.
Orca Salmon Fishing
As I recall on this day of whale watching we had two boats from Grizzly Bear Lodge in Johnstone Strait with a pod of killer whales. We re off Cracroft Point, in the tide ripe, a favourite place for the orca to feed. This is where you turn off the motor and sit and wait for the orca to “pop up” around the boat and provide photo opportunities and they did.
