Today was the second last day of our trip to V.I. We set off early from our hotel in Parksville & drove 130 kms north to Campbell River. It was a bit last minute but we'd booked ourselves on another whale watching cruise, this time into Discovery Passage. Discovery Passage is the narrowest section of water between V.I. & the mainland. There's a myriad of islands in the area as well. It was what I had actually come to V.I. for. The whales were always going to be a bonus. The scenery was awesome. There were no tourists to bug us, just the local wildlife.
The narrow waterway causes some extreme water movement. The tides run strong and boaties need to take great care in this treacherous stretch of water.
We hadn't even left the harbour at Campbell River before we'd seen our first Bald Eagle. Not far north of there, on Quadra Island, we spotted this pair in the tree. They looked very well fed & considering the abundance of salmon in the area, it wasn't exactly a ground breaking discovery. As we continued north, we saw many pairs perched in the trees scoping the water for fish. The Bald Eagles are easy to spot among the dark green spruce trees because they look like golf balls from a distance. Their white heads give them away. It's a big call, but I think we saw more bald eagles today than we did the whole time we were in Alaska, and there were heaps up there.
One of the other residents of Quadra Island is the Black Tailed deer. These are similar to the white tails on the mainland, but are endemic to Vancouver Island & some of the smaller islands in Discovery passage. They are much smaller than their mainland cousins. Bambi's mum in picture only stands about 3 ft at the shoulder. Their white tailed cousins are nearly double that full grown. Unfortunately for the deer, they are a prime snack for the many predators, particularly on Quadra Island. (You can see the doe looking up the hill for danger which was apparently more of a threat than us in the boat). Anything from eagles to wolves & cougars think that even the adults make great eating. The deer still seem to thrive.
Unfortunately the wind was blowing 30 knots plus by the time we weren't too far north. It made it nearly impossible to spot the orcas we had come to find. We could have driven right past them & not know it because of the white caps & spray. We persisted to a point but eventually when Discovery Passage changed into Johnstone Strait, the captain decided it wasn't worth the punishment or the risk to go any further. Instead we headed into a small port on the mainland called Port Neville. It's basically just a wharf, a post office & a bit of a museum. You'll notice an aluminium boat next to the wharf. That was our boat. It's kind of funny looking, but it really did a good job. We didn't get wet, we didn't get beaten up & it was deceptively quick!
We took a break from the battering in the boat & had a look around the old post office. Lorna, the lady who runs the post office, showed us around & was nice enough to tell us about the history of the place. It's now a mail hub for people living in the surrounding area on islands or inlets. The mail float plane comes 3 times a week (now that would be a cool mail run). After a spot of lunch we hopped back on the boat & headed back toward Campbell River.
Due to the lack of opportunity to spot whales, the back up plan was to go bear hunting. We saw three yesterday and were excited about seeing a few more and having an opportunity to catch them with the camera. We were in luck. The bears don't seem at all interested in boats & just go about their business normally. We ended up seeing 3 of them on the way back. They were all foraging on the shore, turning over rocks looking for various snacks.
The good thing about being in a boat is that you can get really close to the animals without disturbing them or having them attack you. Something to notice about the coastal black bears is that they are completely black. Their Albertan cousins we've seen usually have a brown face & a few white markings. As you can see, that's not the case with these guys.
The return trip to Campbell river was much more sedate. Aside from the frequent stops for wildlife, we were protected from the wind. We took a route between the islands closer to the mainland through some calmer waters & some spectacular scenery. The only unfinished business I have on V.I. is in the same area. In September & October you can take a trip with the same company (Discovery Marine Tours) across to an inlet on the mainland where the salmon run. The grizzlies line up, sometimes 15 at a time & fish for salmon. It will just give us an excuse to come back some other time.......
