The weather has once again been amazing this morning! After three warm sunny days in Canada’s coastal rainforests, we awoke to 12C (52F) with light scattered clouds. Our destination today is a small island that is known for its density of spirit bears, and we anticipate spending several hours sitting by an active salmon stream awaiting the possible appearance of this fabled beast!
While our morning group of guests worked their way down the mile-plus path towards the viewing platforms, our First-Nations guide received word that a spirit bear had been sighted on the shore, quite close to the spot where we landed.
When we arrived at the viewing platforms, we found ourselves on the very brink of a stream that was absolutely full of spawning salmon. The morning passed with sightings of dipper birds, Steller’s jays, a vole, and many thousands of spawning salmon.
Our afternoon group of guests also saw most of these residents of the woods, but just as we were about to head back towards the ship, we were visited by a very large black kermode bear, who gave us all lessons in fishing. Guests had amazing photo opportunities, and several ask, after we returned to the ship, why nobody was nervous about how close the bears came to us. The answer was simple, we were all getting just exactly what we needed!
