21st anniversary voyage to the Great Bear Rainforest aboard the Island Roamer

Co-leaders - Chris Breen & Nick Garbutt
Participants - Jill, Brian, Frank, Catherine, Moose, Wolf, John, Maggie, Mags, Rob and Brigid

1 October 2013

1st day aboard the Island Roamer and we've got off to a storming start. After shocking weather yesterday (but a fascinating afternoon with one of the First Nation's researchers from Raincoast Conservation at their research station near Bella Bella) we woke this morning to a still, calm day and an almost cloudless sky. Boarded the Roamer at 10am and set sail after an orientation and safety briefing at around 1130. We cruised for a couple of hours and then I took the wheel (!) while Skipper Xander put the sails up.

Mid afternoon, was the first whale call - a couple of humpbacks feeding in a small channel by a pine-covered island. Some great tail flukes and some lunge feeding (though not close by) was all we needed to keep us happy for an hour or more.

Booted up and wrapped warm we prepared for landing at an inlet, but Brigid saw the dorsal fin of a transient orca in the distance. We approached slowly and cut the engines. Not one but two orcas, a male and a female. They were displaying interesting and unusual behaviour as for some time we didn't see them at the surface together - the suggestion being that they were either drowning something (by keeping it under water and taking it in turns to come up and breath) or they were feeding. 15 to 20 minutes of this was followed by both orcas surfacing and moving off together.

An outstanding start to the voyage….

Overnight anchorage at Salmon Bay.

2 October 2013
Early up this morning - still dark. Muesli for breakfast and then out in the zodiacs to watch and see what Salmon Bay had to offer. A big raft of surf scoters, plenty of gulls (Bonaparte's and glaucous-winged mostly) and of course numerous bald eagles (there always seem to be more juveniles than fully mature adults). We took a short walk as the light was changing and looked at pink and chum salmon swimming up the stream. Hundreds of dead salmon of course, littered across the forest floor and floating, bloated and belly up in the river. Back on board for a full cooked breakfast and then up anchor and heading north. The sun was shining and the mist hanging over the trees, very few clouds in the sky, and those that were there were not of the menacing rain-filled variety.

"Blow ahead…. orca, one at least, maybe two". We spent a couple of hours at least with the orcas, in fact not one or two, but either six or seven. They were hunting and feeding, spy-hopping, tail-slapping and doing some incredible breaching displays. There were two or three full breaches of the adult male. Perfect lighting, perfect weather, perfect scene.

Delicious lunch and cruising north in unseasonably warm weather we came across more wildlife - this time it is Steller's sealions. A pair hauled out on a rock and half a dozen or so swimming around. Perfect for photography. And then, just when we thought the coast was clear to head further north still, we see a pair of humpbacks.

We headed for Mussel Bay and Poison Cove, set anchor and prepared to go ashore. We got into the zodiacs and Nick spotted a mountain goat, high on the mountain side - a speck in the distance precariously balanced on a precipitous mountainside. Then, we disembarked the zodiacs and walk along the Mussel River and set up at a spot where we might see bears. After a couple of hours we were beginning to wonder whether any might appear until up river Brigid spotted a mother and cub - grizzlies - foraging by the rivers edge. They made their way upstream.

Overnight anchorage at Mussel River.

3 October 2013
Another early start with a view to seeing if we could get grizzlies in Mussel Bay. All layers were required as it was absolutely freezing cold outside. Both the zodiacs ran aground as we approached the inlet as the tide hadn't quite got high enough to enable us to get close to where we needed too disembark. Xander got out of the first boat and Sherrie got out of our boat and they pulled the zodiacs for a short distance then climbed back in and with the engines started we continued slowly towards to the far bank of the river. As we came round the corner there was a mother grizzly in the water (neck deep) munching on a salmon. She stayed for a short while and then, unhappy with our presence, moved out of the water. We watched her as she moved up over the rocks and then, with cub, climbed to higher ground. We moved to the far shore and climbed out, set up our cameras and waited for her to come back down now that we were out of the way. She didn't come back, but we were able to photograph her lying on a large rock, paws crossed, looking down at us.

We got back into the zodiacs and motored a little further up the river past huge rafts of glaucous-winged and herring gulls before stopping for an hour or so in case of any grizzlies. Sadly none, so we headed back past Roamer and went into Poison Cove to check for wolves that had been seen the previous afternoon by another group. Nick was standing up spotting as we approached and saw a small group of wolves asleep on the rocks. We watched them from a distance and they stayed for some time before three of them stood up and move off to the right and sat in the apparent shelter of overhanging branches looking out towards us. One stayed asleep on the rock for another five minutes or more before moving off. An absolutely brilliant sighting of five wolves - quite unexpected. Sherrie said this was only her fifth sighting of wolves in 25 years.

We headed back to Roamer (by-passing a humpback) for lunch, a well-earned shower, and a long trek north to Khutze Inlet (another grizzly haunt) where we aim to anchor up for the evening.

Overnight anchorage at Khutze Inlet.

4 October 2013
It poured with rain all night and all morning (well it is a rainforest!). A quick peek outside revealed six river otters fishing and feeding by the water. It was quite difficult to see them though due to the spectacular amount of rain - clearly the sky had sprung a leak! Breakfast this morning was at 0730 and then we were straight out in the zodiacs up into Khutze Inlet to find bears. Rain, rain, rain, rain, no cameras (too much rain to risk) and no bears either. We got out though and took a short walk to see bear day beds, rubbing trees, bear poo, bear fur and a few birds… but that was it other than rain! It was still a great morning - the forest is so beautiful and so spectacular.

We had lunch back on board and then headed north to Bishop Bay. A few of us went into the hot springs for an hour or so which was great, others kayaked and one or two people stayed aboard Roamer.

Overnight anchorage at Bishop Bay.

5 October 2013
I think we all woke up this morning with a fairly significant sense of excitement at the prospect of getting to Riordan and the upper 'stand' from where there is a fabulous opportunity to see spirit bears. We got onto the stand at around 0830ish after a short zodiac journey from Roamer, a scramble over the rocks and a walk along the old logging road. More rain, or perhaps continuous rain (continuous torrential rain?) from the start of the day to the end - but somehow the rain here doesn't put a damper on things - it is truly spectacular. A black bear appeared pretty quickly almost in front of the stand and stayed around for a while.

Marven, the coolest bear guide in Canada, appeared after we had been on the stand for an hour or so - it was great to see him again after a break of a few years. He is one of the worlds 'greats' and a truly amazing protector of bears. He knows them all individually, he talks to them and they seem to be completely comfortable in his company too. Another black bear appeared a little later, slightly upstream and Marven thought he was probably asleep nearby the whole time, woken by us singing happy birthday to Marven's colleague Christopher!

Lunch appeared, brought to the stand by Xander and Janice - delicious hot soup and savoury muffins. Another black bear and more rain - but no sign of a spirit bear which was a little frustrating. In all, we were on the stand for around 10 hours -  I don't think it really felt like it for anyone, although it was beginning to get a little cold towards the end of the day. We returned to the boat a little disappointed at seeing no spirit bears, in spite of it being an outstanding day of black bears (and spine marten that a couple of people saw at the beginning of the day).

Marven suggested that tomorrow he would take us to a different part of the island - this is very special as he very rarely takes anyone anywhere other than to the stands, so this will be a huge privilege. It is going to be a major trek so not everyone may be able to make it… in spite of their keenness!

Overnight anchorage at Bishop Bay.

6 October 2013
Despite the potentially difficult trek everyone is very keen to accompany Marven to this new spirit bear spot. We take the zodiacs and disembark on the beach before entering the forest and beginning our trek upstream. In fact, it is hard going - uphill and down dale - and was likened by a couple of people to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. There was quite a bit of clambering on all fours in order to get up, over, under or through… but we all got to where Marven thought was the very best place to sit and wait. No shelter, a raging river in front of us, pouring rain and after a couple of hours no bears. Marven went off downstream to see if he could see any, Nick and I decided that we would give it one more hour before abandoning our quest to see spirit bear. We got a radio call from Marven to say that he had found a spirit bear and that we should make our way downstream to him and the bear. Easier said than done given the terrain, but after 20 tense minutes or so we were reunited with Marven and saw the most beautiful honey-coloured spirit bear about 35 metres away on the opposite bank of the river. She was very relaxed and just spent time ambling up and down a short stretch of river fishing for salmon and eating her catch. Spectacular - we were with her for 20 to 30 minutes before she finally headed off up another creek and disappeared into the forest.

We were hungry and it was time to head back to Roamer so we began packing up our things, and as we were about to walk downriver to the zodiacs we saw a mother black bear and two cubs. What a great way to end this part of the trip! So, we headed off and after fording a reasonably sized creek (with Marven giving a couple of people piggy backs!) we boarded Roamer and headed south.

Overnight anchorage at Butedale.

7 October 2013
We got off to an early start this morning as we had a hefty distance to travel… but not before heading into Khutze Inlet for a final attempt to see some more grizzlies. This time we only had a relatively little amount of time - an hour to be precise - before we needed to be back onboard and heading to our final overnight anchorage. It had been fine all morning but needless to say, as we got into the zodiacs it began to rain. The tide was a little higher than when we came into the inlet a couple of days ago. We took a short walk and had a lovely (distant) sighting of a mother grizzly and two cubs - a fitting way to end our wildlife viewing before a long journey (without stopping!) back to Bella Bella.

Never a moment wasted though as Nick put on some excellent presentations and we wrote notes, read, and worked on images as we travelled - all the time keeping a weather eye out for whales as we went. Of course we weren't disappointed and had great sightings of a mother a calf en-route.

Overnight anchorage at Lambard Lagoon.

8 October 2013
We got off to another early start this morning, had breakfast and shortly after, arrived into Bella Bella for our flight back to Vancouver. We flew via Port Hardy and there was plenty of time to get a train into Vancouver for a look at this most beautiful of west coast cities before flying back to London on the overnight flight.

 

This is a list of the recorded species on the trip:

Marine Mammals
Pacific harbour seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi)
Stellers (Northern) sealion (Eumetopias jubatus)
Bigg’s (Transient) orca (Orcinus orca)
Dall’s porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli)
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Land Mammals
Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilus)
Black bear (Ursus americanus)
Spirit bear (Ursus americanus kermodei)
Pine marten (Martes americana)
Grey wolf (Canis lupus)
Mountain goat (Oreamos americanus)
Northern river otter (Lontra canadensis)
Tiger (the cat!)

Birds
Pacific diver (Gavia pacifica)
Common diver (Gavia immer)
Red-necked grebe (Aechmorphus occidentalis)
Western grebe (Aechmorphus clarkii)
Fork-tailed storm petrel (Oceanodroma furcata)
Brandt’s cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus)
Pelagic cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus)
Double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Great blue heron (Ardea herodias fannini)
Snow goose (Chen caerulescens)
Canada goose (Branta canadensis)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Blue-winged teal (Anas discors)
Northern pintail (Anas acuta)
Harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus)
Surf scoter (Melanitta perspicillata)
White-winged scoter (Melanitta nigra)
Barrow’s goldeneye (Bucephala islandica)
Common merganser (Mergus merganser)
Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Sandhill crane (Grus canadensis)
Lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)
Western sandpiper (Calidris mauri)
Long-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus)
Red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius)
Bonaparte’s gull (Larus philadelphia)
Mew gull (Larus canus)
California gull (Larus californicus)
Herring gull (Larus argentatus)
Glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens)
Common guillemont (Uria aalge)
Pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba)
Rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata)
Belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)
Red-breasted sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)
Steller’s jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
North-western crow (Corvus caurinus)
Common raven (Corvus corax)
Pacific wren (Troglodytes pacifica)
American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus)
Varied thrush (Ixoreus naevius)
Yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia)
Fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca)
Savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)

Trees
Western hemlock (Tsuga herterophylla)
Pacific silver fir (Abies amabalis)
Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)
Western redcedar (Thuja plicata)
Red alder (Alnus rubra)
Pacific crabapple (Malus fusca)

Shrubs
Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
Oval-leaved blueberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium)
Red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium)
Red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)
Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis)
Devil’s club (Opoplanax horridus)
Stink currant (Ribes bracteosum)

Herbs
Western dock (Rumex occidentalis)
Pacific silverweed (Potentilla anserina pacifica)
Kneeling angelica (Angelica genuflexa)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Douglas’ aster (Aster subspicatus)
Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)

Moss
Sphagnum moss (Sphagnum sp.)

Lichens
Lungwort lichen (Lobaria pulmonaria)
Methuselah’s beard (Usnea longissima)
Hieroglyphic lichen (Graphis scripta)

Marine Plants (flowering)
Eel grass (Zostera marina)

Marine Plants (algae)
Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana)

Marine Invertebrates (some dead, some alive, some shells)
Moon jelly (Aurelia aurita)
Lion’s mane jelly (Cyanea capillata)
Dungeness crab (Cancer magister)
Pacific blue mussel (Mytilis edulis)
Leather star (Dermasterias imbricata)
Ochre star (Pisaster ochraceous)

Land Invertebrates
Dragonfly sp.
Spider sp.

Fish
Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta)
Pink salmon (Oncorhyncus gorbuscha)

Useful websites
www.raincoast.org
http://www.raincoast.org/files/publications/reports/wolfreport.pdf
www.pacificwild.org
http://www.forwhales.org
www.adopt-a-fry.org
www.dogwoodinitiative.org
www.gitgaat.net
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/species-especes/humpback-bosse/index-eng.htm
http://centralcoastbiodiversity.weebly.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4xvc1h7QsI
http://www.bearsforever.ca
http://salmonconfidential.ca

View our small group tours to the Great Bear Rainforest