Tag Archives: Humpback Whales

Grizzly Bear and a Rising Tide

Grizzly Bear Waiting

Spring (late May through to August 24th) grizzly bear tours are in Glendale Cove and the Glendale River, which flows into Knight Inlet. After August 24th our lodge is permitted to use the viewing platform further up the Glendale River. In the spring we use a sixteen foot (3.5 meter) flat bottom skiff that needs less than one foot (30 cm.) of water to float and thus allowing grizzly bear viewing well within a “basic” camera range. Meaning a long-range telephoto lens may be nice but is not mandatory as many guests use ipads for photos. On this day we moved up river viewing bears as we progressed as fast as the tide would allow. Normally the bears are also staying in the shallower water but there is always an exception and this bear was that exception. It moved down into the deeper water and eventually swam to the far shore.

 

 

Two for one lunge feeding Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales Lunging

To provide perspective the yellow in the right hand corner is a guest’s head. Over the past five years humpback whales have become more common in Grizzly Bear Lodge’s whale watching area so a normal day in 2014 we would view between ten and twenty different whales. The idea is to wait quietly near a herring ball and wait for the whale’s lunge with mouth open to engulf the herring. In this case we had two coming up through a large school of herring.

 

 

Waiting Quietly 2 of 6

Humpback whale lunging

Again sitting quietly in an area known as Bold Head we wait for the humpback whales to appear. We do cheat a little because the first thing we do is find a herring ball, which is located by the seagulls diving in the water. Parked near the herring we wait for the whales to come and feed. The feeding is a lunge as the whales come from beneath the herring with their mouth open to engulf the whole herring ball. More waiting tomorrow!

 

 

Visiting Humpback Whales

Humpback Whales visiting

The lodge’s whale watching is takes places on the waters between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland.  An area around Telegraph Cove on the Johnstone Strait.  Humpback whales and calves are becoming a more common sight in our viewing area. They arrive in the waters off the East Coast of Vancouver Island in the spring and feed in the area until late October. In this photo one of our boats was sitting quietly watching another humpback whale when this mother and calf came for a visit.

 

 

Humpback Whale for Lunch

Visiting Humpback Whale

 

“This photo was taken as we sat in the boat with George having lunch in the Inside Passage.
I can only describe this as the most perfect setting I have ever had lunch in. Beautiful perfectly calm sea, stunning scenery and total silence, but for the sound of the Humpbacks surfacing & blowing SO close to the boat.
Yet more Humpbacks near the boat!!”

Lynn is right but the key to “great pictures” is patience.  On our whale watching day we often sit and have lunch in the same areas that the humpback whales are feeding.  By being still in one area (motors turned off) we pose no threat or danger and end up with some incredible memories.

Breaching Humpback Whale 2 of 2

Breaching Humpback Whale

It is very difficult to get one great picture of a breaching whale but to get two on the same trip is a testimony to the ability of the photographer and the number of breaching whales. It was one of those days with many breaches but most of them while in range to see the breach and splash not always in range for a good picture. Whale watching safaris from Grizzly Bear Lodge normally encounter orca, humpback whales, dolphins, porpoise, sealion, seals, eagles and a variety of marine ducks.

 

Breaching Humpback Whale 1 of 2

Humpback Breaching

The first of two great photos of breaching humpback whales provided by
Canada’s Bob and Helen Everson. The numbers of humpback whales that stay in our viewing area is increasing every summer. Five years ago there might be four or five whales that stay in the area all summer and now that number has increased to between fifteen and twenty whales. The area being off the East Coast of Vancouver Island near Telegraph Cove which is two-thirds of the way up the island, going north. Second photo tomorrow.

 

Humpback Whale Lunge Feeding

Humpback whale

The waters between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia are alive with herring, which are the staple in the food chain. Diving birds and ducks feed on the herring and forces them into “herring balls” which are a tight mass of swirling herring from the size a basketball to the size of a small boat.  The duck force them to the surface where the seagulls and eagle dive into to feed.  As a guide I try to locate these balls by watching the gulls, then position the boat near the gulls and wait for the humpbacks to come and feed. If all work as planned then we get a photo such as the one above with a humpback whale taking in a mouthful of herring.

Humpback Whales Also Play

Humpback Whales at play

Over the past five years humpback whales have become more common in the area Grizzly Bear Lodge visits on whale watching days. The area close to Johnstone Straits between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia has become the summer home of more than twenty-five whales. The area has an abundant supply of herring and the whales come to feed and stay within our viewing area for a few days before moving in and out of nearby inlets. The whales start appearing in late May and there are whales all summer some days on six or eight but most days more than a dozen whales are lunge feeding and lobtailing in our viewing area. By the size of the pectoral fin it is clear that this is one of the calves that frequent and play in our viewing area.