British Columbia
Last evening most of us made it an early night. There was, of course, a reason: the Sea Lion was approaching Queen Charlotte Sound, and the forecast was for a five-hour stretch of pretty rough water. And so it was. But then, by dawn this morning, we were well within the safety of the inland passage, sailing northwards on near dead calm water, approaching the community of Bella Bella. Soon the sun rose high enough into the cloudless sky to warm our world, and an especially great day had started. All morning long we continued northwards, briefly feeling the Pacific swell again as we sailed across Milbank Sound, but after that it was all smooth sailing. Soon we entered Tolmie Channel, and the Great Bear Forest, with the Mainland on starboard, and Princess Royal Island on port side. This is a giant area of mostly mature forest, which has recently been given legally protected status by the Government of British Columbia.
The Great Bear Forest is known for being the only place in the world where one can find the white color morph of the black bear, known as the spirit bear. Most of us, having never been in this area, had of course never seen such a bear, but that also held for Neil, our expedition leader, despite his having traveled through the area for the past twelve years. It was therefore not surprising that the announcement of the sighting of a spirit bear caused a stampede from the dining room to the foredeck. And there, high up on a sparsely vegetated slope, adjacent to Khutze Inlet was not just one spirit bear, but a bash of four of these slightly yellowish white 'black' bears. Every pair of binoculars on board was trained on those four animals, and the level of excitement was measurable by the tone of the exclamations emanating from the crowd. This one discovery so overshadowed the rest of the morning that it is hard to remember that we also saw a fantastic pod of killer whales, a small but very active pod of Dall's porpoises, lots of amazing birds, and of course, one of the most spectacular landscapes on the continent.
During the lunch hour the Sea Lion turned in Altanash Inlet, and dropped anchor near its terminal end. This has to be one of the most idyllic places one can imagine. Surrounded on all sides by steep rocky cliffs, densely wooded slopes and distant views to snow covered peaks, the inlet itself is serene and still, but alive with gently moving reflections of the surrounding slopes. It seemed slightly sacrilegious to shatter this silence with the outboards of the Zodiacs, a sentiment obviously shared by a bald eagle, which departed in disgust from a nearby tree to the far end of the inlet. However, soon silence returned; we were on shore and were starting our hikes and kayaking excursions. The hiking groups studied the foreshore vegetation, noticing the evidence of heavy bear grazing on the grasses and sedges, and found further evidence for bears being the grazers, when bear scat with recognizable grass remnants was encountered. In fact, the entire low-lying area near the outflow of two small streams was a bear pasture, although there was also a small flock of Canada geese, which was obviously grazing on seaside plantain. Inside the forest we found giant eight to ten foot high stumps, where more than half a century ago, large cedar trees have been harvested, but the decaying stumps still showed the notches that held the planks on which the lumberjacks stood, felling those forest giants with their 'misery whips'.
For most of us, the day will be remembered because of our taste of ocean kayaking, which changes the human being from a walking, upright, noisy terrestrial being, into a floating, horizontal, quiet entity. It is the perfect way to extend one's hiking experience onto the surface of even large water bodies. After pushing off from the beach where the kayaks had been dropped, we all scattered over the inlet, each of us pursuing his or her own quest. The immediate shoreline provided an inexhaustible source of small, but exciting organisms, such as hermit crabs in shells of all shapes and sizes, all sorts of algae, barnacles and mussels. Farther out, we saw small jellies pulsing just below the surface, and a few harbor seals nosing around.
Back aboard the Sea Lion for the evening, we looked around at the now-familiar faces of our fellow travelers, and recognized how blessed this trip has been.
Last evening most of us made it an early night. There was, of course, a reason: the Sea Lion was approaching Queen Charlotte Sound, and the forecast was for a five-hour stretch of pretty rough water. And so it was. But then, by dawn this morning, we were well within the safety of the inland passage, sailing northwards on near dead calm water, approaching the community of Bella Bella. Soon the sun rose high enough into the cloudless sky to warm our world, and an especially great day had started. All morning long we continued northwards, briefly feeling the Pacific swell again as we sailed across Milbank Sound, but after that it was all smooth sailing. Soon we entered Tolmie Channel, and the Great Bear Forest, with the Mainland on starboard, and Princess Royal Island on port side. This is a giant area of mostly mature forest, which has recently been given legally protected status by the Government of British Columbia.
The Great Bear Forest is known for being the only place in the world where one can find the white color morph of the black bear, known as the spirit bear. Most of us, having never been in this area, had of course never seen such a bear, but that also held for Neil, our expedition leader, despite his having traveled through the area for the past twelve years. It was therefore not surprising that the announcement of the sighting of a spirit bear caused a stampede from the dining room to the foredeck. And there, high up on a sparsely vegetated slope, adjacent to Khutze Inlet was not just one spirit bear, but a bash of four of these slightly yellowish white 'black' bears. Every pair of binoculars on board was trained on those four animals, and the level of excitement was measurable by the tone of the exclamations emanating from the crowd. This one discovery so overshadowed the rest of the morning that it is hard to remember that we also saw a fantastic pod of killer whales, a small but very active pod of Dall's porpoises, lots of amazing birds, and of course, one of the most spectacular landscapes on the continent.
During the lunch hour the Sea Lion turned in Altanash Inlet, and dropped anchor near its terminal end. This has to be one of the most idyllic places one can imagine. Surrounded on all sides by steep rocky cliffs, densely wooded slopes and distant views to snow covered peaks, the inlet itself is serene and still, but alive with gently moving reflections of the surrounding slopes. It seemed slightly sacrilegious to shatter this silence with the outboards of the Zodiacs, a sentiment obviously shared by a bald eagle, which departed in disgust from a nearby tree to the far end of the inlet. However, soon silence returned; we were on shore and were starting our hikes and kayaking excursions. The hiking groups studied the foreshore vegetation, noticing the evidence of heavy bear grazing on the grasses and sedges, and found further evidence for bears being the grazers, when bear scat with recognizable grass remnants was encountered. In fact, the entire low-lying area near the outflow of two small streams was a bear pasture, although there was also a small flock of Canada geese, which was obviously grazing on seaside plantain. Inside the forest we found giant eight to ten foot high stumps, where more than half a century ago, large cedar trees have been harvested, but the decaying stumps still showed the notches that held the planks on which the lumberjacks stood, felling those forest giants with their 'misery whips'.
For most of us, the day will be remembered because of our taste of ocean kayaking, which changes the human being from a walking, upright, noisy terrestrial being, into a floating, horizontal, quiet entity. It is the perfect way to extend one's hiking experience onto the surface of even large water bodies. After pushing off from the beach where the kayaks had been dropped, we all scattered over the inlet, each of us pursuing his or her own quest. The immediate shoreline provided an inexhaustible source of small, but exciting organisms, such as hermit crabs in shells of all shapes and sizes, all sorts of algae, barnacles and mussels. Farther out, we saw small jellies pulsing just below the surface, and a few harbor seals nosing around.
Back aboard the Sea Lion for the evening, we looked around at the now-familiar faces of our fellow travelers, and recognized how blessed this trip has been.
