I end this year’s blog the way I like to start my day at Grizzly Bear Lodge – with a great sunrise.
Tag Archives: lodge
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
Coming to the dock 1 of 3
The flight you catch in Campbell River leaves the harbour about 3:00 and arrives at the lodge about forty-five minutes later. As your luggage is loaded you may have notice that the extra room was filled with the all important groceries to keep the “larder” stocked. The size of the plane will depend on the number of guests and could be a Beaver or a Cessna.
Rare sunrise
Not a common sight but magnificent when it does occur – sunrise photos from the front deck of Grizzly Bear Lodge. Guides are up by 6:00 or 6:30, depending on the time of the season, to make fresh coffee and to finish setting the table for breakfast. Some guests are up when we rise others are called an hour later. In this case the “early bird does get the worm” (sunrise).
Days almost over
The table is set with salads, fresh homemade bread and wine. Dinning at Grizzly Bear Lodge is a “family affair” in that it is good food that the guests rave about and guests and staff share the same table leading to lively conversations. A guide rule is “what happens in the boat stays in the boat unless the guest open the topic”. The dining part of dinner may be completed in an hour but the conversation around the table last for several hours. At times (often after nine o’clock) we have to ask the guest to move into the living room so we can set the table for breakfast.
Good Morning 2 of 2
After the photos comes breakfast. Breakfast consists of: likely the most important thing – coffee and boilded water for tea – then home made muffins and bread, cereals both cold and hot (in a package), fruit (fresh and in bowels to be added to cereal), yogurt, juices and then more coffee. The each boat has a great picnic lunch but guests often take a muffin or fruit for a morning snack.
Late Afternoon at the Lodge
Most of the day trips from the Lodge return by 4:30, which leaves a couple of hours of down time before dinner. Guests congregate on the front deck, walk the beach, hike the trails behind the lodge or read in the sunshine. The other and for most the more important activity is to check their days photos. It is also the time guests exchange e-mails so they can trade pictures if they are not able to do that on their laptops.
Grizzly Bear Lodge
Almost a complete photo. It shows the dock and boats used on the three different day trips. One up Knight Inlet to the grizzly bears, a second to Johnstone Straits to the marine wildlife, and the third to Trapper Rick’s if you choose to stay the extra day. Next the main lodge which normally accommodates six guests has a large deck where guests spend their time off the water sharing pictures. The next building is owners, Angus and Krystle’s cabin. Missing just past this is the water front cabin, which accommodates two more guests bringing the lodge total to eight. So if you want to avoid the crush of a lodge with thirty plus guests you are reading the right blog.
Guest complain about food
The main complaint we receive from the guests is that they now know why they are asked to keep the weight of their luggage down because if they didn’t the plane would not get off the water due to weight gain. Looks like halibut, salmon, peas, rice or couscous, eggplant casserole, do not forget the fresh homemade bread at the other end of the table and wine. And this is after either homemade soup or salad. Dinner is a social time served by and eaten with your guides and the only rule we abide by is “What happens in the boat stays in the boat unless the guest mentions it first.”.
View from the Lodge
Grizzly Bear Lodge is located on Minstrel Island not far from the mouth of Knight Inlet. There is no other permanent human residence on the island but we do share with blacktail deer, one or two black bears, on occasion a grizzly will visit for a day or two and once we saw a wolf. The sunrise from the front deck does happen every day but many days it is obscured by a cloud cover. Knight Inlet is one of the longest on the BC Coast at 125 kilometers (80 miles) in length and because of its size has a microclimate that often becomes overcast in the evening. The good news is that normally by eleven o’clock the sun appears. As nice as it is to have the sun it does make it harder for good pictures when you are getting the reflection off the water.
