The fjords of the Great Bear Rainforest rarely give a free pass without an excess of humidity. But today, what appeared to be a light rain quickly proved to be a mere bit of seasonal dew. Today’s destination was an island known for its population of bears with a very exclusive set of genes. These bears, described by William Hornaday for his friend Frank Kermode, belong to the only population of American black bears on Earth that contains a small subset of all white, non-albino individuals — the spirit bears.
As we were preparing to load our Zodiacs for the first round of hikes, we were surprised by an announcement from the bridge: a spirit bear had been spotted at the mouth of the river that we were to hike along. Since sightings of this mythical beast are so rare, all preparations were put on hold, so that as many guests as possible could view this ghostly being from our bow. Once the white bear had faded from sight we resumed our debarkation. When we arrived at the viewing platforms, we found ourselves at the edge of a stream that was full of spawning salmon!
Immersed as we were in this land of life and death, our allotted time slipped by in a flash. Returning to the ship, we began cocktail hour, only to be treated to an amazing display of group bubble-net feeding by the local humpbacks! It simply does not get any better than this!
Photographers: Jeff Campbell, Naturalist, and Alex Joseph, Certified Photo Instructor
