Morning tours leave the dock by 8:00 in the spring and 7:30 in the fall. Guests are called by 7:00 or 6:30 and come down for breakfast, however many are up earlier once they smell the fresh coffee. While you have breakfast your guide is checking the boat and making sure the pop / beer cooler and picnic lunch is on board. The floater suit tied around this guest’s waist need to be in the boat, as they required by law, but it is not necessary to be worn. Most quests do wear the suits because mornings on the water can be cool and damp. By eleven o’clock the overcast is gone and out comes the sunscreen.
Guest normally arrive from Campbell River by seaplane around 3:30. Luggage is carried to the lodge, rooms are assigned and a snack set out on the main lodge deck. The snack is a variety of cheeses, crackers, antipasto, tea or coffee and of course the main item either fresh dungeness crabs or prawns. And I think the table also shows a can of pop and a beer. While you are eating and Angus has a captive audience he will go over the operation of the camp and outline the day’s itinerary. Before you eat again at 6:30 there is time for a black bear tour of the local area where you become familiar with the boats and guides and of course look for black bears, bald eagles, seals, and occasionally seeing grizzlies.
The morning view across the bay in front of the Lodge. Guest are called between 6:30 and 7:00 for an 8:00 or 8:30 departure depending on the time of the season. A good breakfast is on the table and most important fresh coffee or tea. This photo shows the tail end of a beautiful sunrise over calm waters.
We frequently have guests say: “I now know why you want us to keep our luggage on the incoming plane at 10 kg (app. 20 lbs.). It is because of the weight we add eating.” Meals at the lodge are not only gourmet they are a social occasion. It does not matter if it is the first meal before any tours or the last meal before you leave there is always lots to talk about. Dinner is normally around 6:30 and we seldom leave the table before 8:30 so it can be set for morning breakfast and then the conversation carries on in the “living room”. The one thing the guest comment about beside the great food is that they eat with the staff, which is always around to answer questions and provide great stories.
Mornings on the water can be a little cool so many guest wear the “floater suite” provided by Grizzly Bear Lodge. If you don’t wear them they must be in the boat as they are your lifejackets. If you are acclimatized to the West Coast the suits are not necessary as this guest demonstrates. On most days, by noon, the suits are in the front of the boat. Departure from the lodge is by 7:30 or 8:00 depending on the time of the year and this is after a 6:30 or 7:00 wake up call and a good breakfast. A picnic lunch is a must as we normally return between 3:30 and 4:30 depending on the tour. The only tight schedule is the fall trips to the grizzly bears when we use the viewing stands and we must be in the stands by 10:00 all other trips are flexible.
It must be close to 7:30 am as the guests are on the dock and ready to leave for a day of wildlife viewing. In the morning guests are called for breakfast at 6:30 for the 7:30 departure. The red / orange float suits are your government approved life jackets and as one of my guest said like wearing a duvet, in this case a warm waterproof duvet. On the dock is the picnic lunch for the boat. These lunches are always popular with the guests and our cooks philosophy is “that if the basket comes back almost empty she did not pack enough” it does not matter if the guest ate twice their body weight in food. Note that it is a maxim of four guests per boat and often less.
Grizzly Bear Lodge is located on Minstrel Island approximately 25 kilometers from the mouth of Knight Inlet on the West Coast of British Columbia between the BC Coast and Vancouver Island. This is important because the location has its own microclimate, which involves a cloud cover, which moves in most evenings and burns off by noon the next day. This all makes the sunrise shown in this photo by Craig and Pat Brown from USA rather rare.
A quiet morning departure from Grizzly Bear Lodge located on Minstrel Island (Knight Inlet) at the edge of BC’s Great Bear Rainforest. Depending on the season tours leave either by 7:30 or 8:00 and return between 3:00 and 5:00 depending on the days success. Guests often want a picture of the lodge and dock as we leave or return in the afternoon. Accommodating eight to ten guests allows for the personal touch from the gourmet meals to sharing the boat with a maximum of five people including the guide. The limit placed on the number of guests in camp is often one of the main reasons guest first select Grizzly Bear Lodge but by the time they leave it is the family atmosphere and the years of experience of all the staff that makes the visit memorable.
Almost anything and everything will be of interest to guests. One of my first comments to guest in the boat is that if your want to stop, slow down or go in any direction for a photograph please let me know. We do not run on a tight schedule about the only guideline is to be back to the lodge for dinner as a result there are always interesting photos. Some guests have an interest in birds and some in the variety of scenery some even lake pictures of the bears.
On your arrival your first view of the lodge is from the dock. Guests are shown their rooms and then return to the front deck for a “arrival snack” of cheese, crackers, and fresh caught dungeness crab or prawns (in this case both). This is to get up your appetite for dinner in about two of three hours. Once you have had time to eat or while we have a captive audience all in one place someone will explain about the night lights as we are on a generator, showers, hottub, daily schedule (very flexible) and answer any questions.
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.
