Day 5 - Bear Watching

Today was the day we hoped to do what we failed to do three years previously; watch the Grizzly Bears feeding in the Knight Inlet. Our previous attempt ended a little disappointingly as we weren't able to see any bears, though we did manage to spot a wolf that'd likely have been the reason for their absence.

This time around we hoped for better luck. It was an early exit as we needed to be on board the boat at half 6 to be taken to the area the bears had been known to frequent called Glendale Cove. This was a two hour boat journey through the archipelago that makes up the incredibly picturesque surroundings of the Knight Inlet. However this particular morning, we couldn't see this due to a thick fog that'd enveloped the whole area!

Eventually this began to dissipate and before we'd even reached our destination, we spotted a Black Bear investigating the waters off a small island and even found ourselves amongst another group of Orcas who today were not very shy at all and even swam under our boat!

As we reached Knight Inlet we were lucky enough for all of the thick fog to have cleared into a glorious blue sky, and luckily still to hear the news radioed from another boat that a mother bear and her cubs had been spotted! We quickly transferred from our small boat to an even smaller flat-bottomed boat which was designed to navigate the waters of the cove, which were rarely more than a foot in depth.

Before we reached the main cove, we spotted the mother bear and her cubs making their way across the flat estuary. The cubs were as playful as you'd expect a young bear to be, and as their mother calmly made her way along the shoreline, they'd regularly stop to play and investigate their surroundings before hurrying to catch back up to their mum.

We silently followed the group for an hour or so until we decided to break off to check for more up the main channel of the estuary. Aside from a few deer and the odd bald eagle, we didn't have much luck here but overall we felt very lucky to have seen what we saw!

The journey back to Telegraph Cove gave us the opportunity to take in the wonderful scenery that was cloaked in fog that morning.

Once we got back, we thanked the crew and made our way back to our apartment to have a relaxing couple of hours before heading out for a gentle walk and to get ourselves some food. After two days on the sea, the feeling of being on the rocking waves was a difficult feeling to shift!