Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Part Two

       Ok now the photos everyone has been waiting for! When we pulled into the floating dock to switch to the flat bottom boat needed to go up the river we were met by our first bear. The dock is about 15 yards from the shore and a female grizzly walked out of the bushes and down to the shore where she started flipping rocks looking for food. We piled onto the boat to follow her along the shore.






     Next we went over to the mouth of the river where we found another young female grizzly. We didn't notice it right away but she put the run on a small weasel like critter but never caught it.




     Then along came her sister and we were all thinking it was going to be a nice family reunion but she put the run on her sister. After a short chase the walked back to the beach together then decided to go their separate ways.






     Next we went back to the dock to have a nice lunch. We were first ones there, first have lunch and first back out on the water. We went and found the first bear we had seen and she must have found enough to eat as she was having a nap.


     We then went back to the river where our two guides had to get out and drag us up the river as it was too shallow to run the motor.  We came across this female hiding in the grass.


     They kept pushing the boat trying to get us to a better viewing spot when we noticed this young cub. Everyone was excited to see a baby.


     They kept moving the boat hoping for a better view then we noticed there were two cubs with the mother. Now that was awesome and there was no way to top that!


      Or was there? It took a bit but who would have thunk it? Three babies with the mother! But as soon as we spotted the third baby the mother decided to take them into the bush again.



      All the bears that we had seen to this point were females. Not sure what the babies were yet. Shortly after they dissapeard into the woods we saw another bear come out of the woods. This was our first and only male and probably the reason the mom and cubs went into the woods. We stayed where we were up against the shore and the male ended up coming right down and passing us about 15 yards away from the boat, if that!




     He walked past us then went down to the water and went swimming going further away from us. Our time was about done and we had to head back and change boats again. We saw two more females with cubs but they were quite a distance away.The one was hiding in the deep grass and the cub was nursing but we couldnt get any good photos.

      All in all it was a great outing that surpassed what I was hoping to see. I would definitely do this again maybe when the salmon are spawning next year!

Saturday, September 05, 2015

Bucket list item crossed off

       Well there is something Ive wanted to do for a long time and finally made the time to do it. Now i don't have a written bucket list but there are a handful of things i would like to do and when i do them i scratch them off my imaginary bucket list. Seeing Killer whales was one of them. learning to count to 100 was another one as well as learning the alphabet. I love wild life and ever since Ive been out here I have heard about a place that you can visit and see wild Grizzly Bears. So I had a weeks holidays coming up and I decided I was going to do it so a couple months ago I booked an excursion online. Now Patty isnt into some of t5he things I like but she gladly lets me go do my thing.

       Patty has a friend Dianne that lives with her husband Chris, daughter Carmen and dog Princess in Comox. I must add that I now consider them friends of mine. They came to visit us a while back and i had mentioned to them what I had planned on going and if it would be ok if i dropped Patty off on my way by. I was going to Telegraph Cove closer to the top of the island and Comox is half way. Its kind of weird how you can go to a place you've never been and feel right at home. That's how they made us feel from the time we finally found their home. My phone died which had the gps on it and Patty's phone is well ..... crappy lol. Doesn't help that Patty can't read a map and gets lost in a parking lot. Also their house is on a corner and we turned onto their street but there driveway is on the other street. We called and they came out and saved us.

       After sitting and chatting for a while we went for a walk and picked some beans and tomatoes for supper from their green house and garden. Talk about your fresh vegetables! They have multiple varieties of cherry tomatoes and we were eating them right off the plant. Sweet as apples even the bigger ones.We had a roast chicken dinner with potatoes and fresh green beans with salad and oven baked bread that Chris insisted we eat after he went through all the trouble of getting it ready.

      I was having such a good time that i didn't want to leave but it was getting late and i still had at least 3 hours to go. In the first 3 minutes i seen about 30 deer and at one point had to come to a complete stop because 4 of them were on the road. It got dark fast but there's not a lot to see other than trees and deer lol. I got to Telegraph Cove before 11pm. I drove around and checked the area out and then went driving to find a place to park my car and crash for the night. That's right i slept in the car. It wasn't too bad, i put the back seats down and had my feet in the trunk. It wasn't that cold out either.

      I got up at about 6am and drove down to the main area where i parked and went into the washroom facilities to clean up and charge my phone. I found out we were leaving after 8am instead of 7am because they have to go with the tide to get us up the river. Gave me time to wander around. I had been there when i first got to the island when Nikko, Shannon and I would take drives on the weekend. The place didn't feel the same as it did back then as some of the old wood buildings are gone and a big motel is there now. Kind of like the changes at Coombs Country Market but that's another story.












       We checked in then went down to the boats waiting at the end of the dock. There are 3 boats and they take up to 12 people on each boat. All 3 boats were going out only 2 were full. It was a beautiful day and the water was so calm. We were given a safety talk and then we were on our way. They had coffee, tea and hot chocolate as well as muffins on board. Its about 2 hours to Knights Inlet. On the way we saw some Dahl Porpoises which look like little killer whales. They are so fast I couldn't get a decent photo but they were fun to watch. There are supposed to be some around the south end of the island but of all the times Ive gone whale watching we've never spotted any. As we continued I spotted some weird movement on the water not far from us and when I asked what is that they said Pacific White Sided Dolphins and slowed down to watch. The dolphins were feeding so we stayed back to watch. They circle around real fast and make bubbles to confuse the little fish then they move in for the feast.




      They then showed us some native land that is not inhabited any longer and there was an old cabin. They said the white beach near the cabin is all clam shells. After ceremonies where they ate clams they would put all the shells on this beach. From a distance it looks like a nice white beach.


       Next are some scenery shots as we got closer to Knights Inlet. The one photo is of landslides that happened a couple years ago after a long dry season. Then it rained for a few days straight and they believe there was a small earth quake. The other shot is clouds and mountains. The third shot is a boat we passed on our way.




This is one of the boats that we were on
     

This is where we docked


This is one of the boats we switched to when we got to Knights Inlet.


And this is what we were there to see!