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Home > Where We Go | How We Travel | Where We Stay > Orcas
& Grizzlies
This tour is for active travelers with a passion to observe orcas and grizzlies in their natural habitat.
Designed for the novice kayaker, the first leg of this tour spirits you into the heart of Johnstone Strait for a four day kayak tour. Instead of setting up tents every night, our Orca Base Camp Kayak tour enables you maximize your time on the water from the comfort of our camp to search for orcas. During your four days on the water, you'll spend more time exploring, relaxing and viewing wildlife, paddling daily in a pristine wilderness environment. The Orcas regularly pass by our camp and the nearby waters in Johnstone Strait are well populated with Bald eagles, harbour seals, dolphins, porpoises, and rich inter-tidal life. In the evening, nearby forest trails await your exploration.
After your kayak tour, get ready for an exciting day of grizzly bear watching - this nine hour marine tour has a 90% success rate! Before and after your bear tour, you'll relax in the comfort and serenity of Alert Bay Lodge, located in a First Nation community on Cormorant Island. A large common room and sundecks are favourite places for guests to gather and converse. Here, you'll be able to ramble around this 3000 square foot bed and breakfast retreat, walk two kilometers to the Village of Alert Bay to shop for native crafts and take in other First Nations attractions.
During your stay in Alert Bay we've included admission to the U'mista Cultural Centre, which houses the Potlatch Collection, and other artifacts belonging to the Kwakwaka'wakw people dating as far back at the 1870's. We've taken care of your transportation to and from this remote area – so, all you have to do is make sure you bring a camera with lots of memory and extra batteries! Midnight Sun Travel supports local environmental initiatives. To this end, $50 of every tour sold will be directed to Save our Salmon Marine Conservation Foundation.
Reservations Orcas & Grizzlies Itinerary Day 1. Alert Bay, BC. After an early morning departure from Victoria or Vancouver, your coach begins its journey up the east coast east coast of Vancouver Island to Campbell River. Heading north into the wilderness, we leave most of the population of Vancouver Island behind us. The highway shrinks to single lane, curving around steep hills and mountains, and waterfalls can be seen from the highway. Roosevelt Elk, deer and bear frequent this area. Two hours later, we arrive at the small community of Port McNeill. The local ferry awaits to provide a 35 minute voyage to Cormorant Island and the Village of Alert Bay (pop. 1200). In the evening one may enjoy a stroll along the waterfront, take in the views from the sundeck, or enjoy a book from our library. We include your dinner at Alert Bay Lodge on this first night.
Meals: Dinner Accommodation : Alert Bay Lodge
Day 2. Johnstone Strait, BC. After breakfast, you can leave your non-essential luggage at the Lodge and catch a ride with the manager to the Government wharf where you'll meet your water taxi to join your fellow kayakers. On arrival at our base camp, your guides will give you a short camp orientation. After everyone is set up in their tents, a short introduction to kayaking will be followed up by practicing in the cove outside our camp. Once everyone is comfortable in their kayaks, we begin our journey.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Accommodation : Camping
Day 3. Johnstone Strait, BC After enjoying a relaxed breakfast we begin the days paddle. Our base camp is well situated on one of the orcas main travel path as well as being in an area routinely visited by humpback whales. Also close by are many islets that are home to numerous sea birds and seals and the more protected inner passages of Broughton Archipelago where evidence still survives of past first nations use. Our exact routes will vary each day depending on possible wildlife sightings, currents, tides and weather. Meals : Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Accommodation : Camping
Day 4. Johnstone Strait, BCWe provide an underwater hydrophone on all of our Orca Water tours and will often stop to listen to the sounds the orcas make. Our guides can often distinguish different orca clans by the sounds that they make and even identify many of the individual orcas through the shapes and markings of their dorsal fins. With the use of a photographic catalogue we can compare the orcas that we have seen over the day to identify the orcas to the families and clans they belong to.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Accommodation: Camping
Day 5. Johnstone Strait, BC After a hearty breakfast you will have the option of going for a morning paddle or just staying back in camp and relaxing. Our water taxi picks us up shortly after lunch for the journey back to civilization. Generally, we return to Alert Bay by 3:30 pm. You'll have plenty of time to shower and change and stroll through the Village for a place to dine.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch Accommodation: Alert Bay Lodge
Day 6. Alert Bay, BCWe've set this day aside for you to explore the village of Alert Bay. After breakfast, the lodge manager will provide you with a map highlighting attractions on the 5 kilometer long Cormorant Island, tickets to U'Mista Cultural Centre and a picnic lunch. Attractions include shops and galleries featuring native art, the U'Mista Cultural Centre featuring historic and contemporary artwork, including First Nations reclaimed potlatch collection (admission included), First Nations dancing at the Big House (schedule permitting), the Ecological Gardens and Big Tree Trail: a series of easy walking trails located at the top of the island. These attractions are about two kilometers from the village.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch Accommodation: Alert Bay Lodge
Day 7. Alert Bay. BCWe depart at 6:45 am from Alert Bay for a full day on the water to seek out grizzly bears in their natural habitat. Our destination is Knight Inlet, a two hour ride by covered boat into Johnstone Strait. Becoming famous for its population of Grizzly bears, Knight Inlet is surrounded by snow-capped mountains, steep-sided, forested cliffs and active marine life. Here we drift, paddle and motor quietly around an estuary, looking to spot grizzly bears as they feed on the sedges and grasses at high tide. Low tide brings more bears out, and we may see them turn over large boulders in their search for crabs, isopods and beach barnacles. On some tides we transfer to our flat bottomed skiff to get into the shallows. Please bring your binoculars and camera!
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch Accommodation: Alert Bay Lodge
Day 8. Fly out from Port Hardy, BC. After breakfast we'll call your get on right ferry McNeill. Your up-Island journey continues when you're picked up by taxi at the McNeill Ferry Terminal and escorted Port Hardy Airport. Here, you catch an afternoon scheduled flight to Vancouver, BC
Meals: Breakfast Accommodation: Not provided.
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Orcas & Grizzlies Tour Click a picture to see
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