I posted this trip in an unusual order at first thinking I would only write about the kayaking. As I got into writing I decided to include all my trip. Read on...
This was the first real day of my trip. Yesterday I travelled from NM to Port Hardy, British Columbia through Denver and Vancouver. It’s been a while since I’ve travelled by air. United is down to a giving out a cup of something to drink. On the flight to Port Hardy from Vancouver they passed out snacks, juice and an after snack candy. This was on a small plane on a 1 hour flight.
After checking in at the hotel I walked along the waterfront and Main Street. Port Hardy is a town of about 5,000 mostly working class people, fishing, mining, logging and a bit of tourism. Any time one goes to a destination like this in the states it seems there are dozens of tourist shops selling all the usual tourist stuff, not here, there’s a shop or two otherwise the usual hardware, grocery, sporting goods stores and gas stations. Not even a McDonald’s, certainly not missed by me!
I quickly noticed the difference between the tourists and the locals. Since it was only about 65 outside the tourists were wearing the coats or sweaters and the locals were wearing T-shirts and shorts. I was one of the fleece jacket tourists. While walking along the shore line I started hearing bald eagles calling in the distance, the first time I’ve heard that in a long time. Berries seem to be growing everywhere; black, red and thimble, which is a very small version of a red raspberry. I tried one and quickly decided I prefer my blackberries. There is the scent of pine everywhere; if the pine scent isn’t there the smell of the ocean has taken its place.
I planned on a couple days of day tours then my kayaking trip, then an afternoon in Vancouver as the start of my trip back home, with the following day travelling the rest of the way.
I started with an orca trip with Mackay Whale Watching out of Port McNeill, about a 30 minute drive South of Port Hardy. My usual ‘don’t want to be there late’ personality showed up again, I got there 45 minutes early. I saw a lot of the town in about 30 minutes. Living in the big city spoils a person with all kinds of places to go to to waste time and money. Looking back on it now I realize that I was still wound up from my usual; getting up, going to work …. You know the routine. I did manage to slow down within the next day but it did take time.
Mackay’s has been around for a long time, they were one of the first
companies to have orca tours. They have helped with guiding the legislation on how tourists are to behave around orcas. They are very knowledgeable about orcas and the local sea life in general.
The boat was full of tourists from many different places; the US, Canada, England, Holland and Germany. I was amazed at all the European tourists coming to this remote part of the world. You have to really want to come here because there is no direct way to get here.
The day started out nice and clear but it quickly turned cloudy and stayed that way for a good portion of th
e day. All along the way we saw and heard bald eagles. After an hour or so of travelling we had our first sighting, a pod of three to four orcas along the shore. They were quite far away but we all kept snapping photos with the hope they would get closer but you shoot anyway because this may be the only sighting. Nature does not operate on a clock!
Almost everybody in the area, especially locals, call in any orca sightings on the radio so if there are any orcas they probably have been seen and it has
been passed along on the radio. It certainly increases the chances of finding some considering the size of the area they cover.
After following the first pod for 10 minutes or so Bill took off across the Johnstone Strait to find some other orcas. Within a few minutes
more orcas appeared, much closer this time. Everybody jumped up and started photographing again. Bill identified one of the orcas as Springer who had somehow gotten lost on the south end of Vancouver Island. The northern orcas and southern orcas do not associate with each other so having Springer accepted back into its north pod is significant.
The orcas were swimming up and down the channel just feeding. It was a lot of fun to see them up close; you could see the different markings which are used to identify them. After seeing several pods over the next hour or two we stoppe
d for a lunch of soup and a roll followed by a dessert. When Nicole brought up the dessert we were too busy photographing the sea lions on the shore to stop for dessert.
On our way back to drop some of the other
tourists at a remote hotel we saw a black bear wandering along the shore. She looked over at us then just proceeded to walk along the shore not paying us any mind.
The trip was great, I highly recommend it. My only disappointment is that I did not get the ultimate orca photo. It is hard work aiming your camera with a long lens to get that close-up photo on a moving boat when you are not certain when and where your orca will make its next appearance. I will have to try again.
After the orca tour was over I continued on to Telegraph Cove another 20 minutes south of Port McNeill. I toured around the tourist shops and visited Tide Rip tours where I had made reservations to go on a Grizzly bear tour. They have been seeing bears consistently so our chances are good to see a bear or two. I can’t wait.
Thank you for stopping by.
Mark
After checking in at the hotel I walked along the waterfront and Main Street. Port Hardy is a town of about 5,000 mostly working class people, fishing, mining, logging and a bit of tourism. Any time one goes to a destination like this in the states it seems there are dozens of tourist shops selling all the usual tourist stuff, not here, there’s a shop or two otherwise the usual hardware, grocery, sporting goods stores and gas stations. Not even a McDonald’s, certainly not missed by me!
I quickly noticed the difference between the tourists and the locals. Since it was only about 65 outside the tourists were wearing the coats or sweaters and the locals were wearing T-shirts and shorts. I was one of the fleece jacket tourists. While walking along the shore line I started hearing bald eagles calling in the distance, the first time I’ve heard that in a long time. Berries seem to be growing everywhere; black, red and thimble, which is a very small version of a red raspberry. I tried one and quickly decided I prefer my blackberries. There is the scent of pine everywhere; if the pine scent isn’t there the smell of the ocean has taken its place.
I planned on a couple days of day tours then my kayaking trip, then an afternoon in Vancouver as the start of my trip back home, with the following day travelling the rest of the way.
I started with an orca trip with Mackay Whale Watching out of Port McNeill, about a 30 minute drive South of Port Hardy. My usual ‘don’t want to be there late’ personality showed up again, I got there 45 minutes early. I saw a lot of the town in about 30 minutes. Living in the big city spoils a person with all kinds of places to go to to waste time and money. Looking back on it now I realize that I was still wound up from my usual; getting up, going to work …. You know the routine. I did manage to slow down within the next day but it did take time.
Mackay’s has been around for a long time, they were one of the first
companies to have orca tours. They have helped with guiding the legislation on how tourists are to behave around orcas. They are very knowledgeable about orcas and the local sea life in general.The boat was full of tourists from many different places; the US, Canada, England, Holland and Germany. I was amazed at all the European tourists coming to this remote part of the world. You have to really want to come here because there is no direct way to get here.
The day started out nice and clear but it quickly turned cloudy and stayed that way for a good portion of th
e day. All along the way we saw and heard bald eagles. After an hour or so of travelling we had our first sighting, a pod of three to four orcas along the shore. They were quite far away but we all kept snapping photos with the hope they would get closer but you shoot anyway because this may be the only sighting. Nature does not operate on a clock!Almost everybody in the area, especially locals, call in any orca sightings on the radio so if there are any orcas they probably have been seen and it has
been passed along on the radio. It certainly increases the chances of finding some considering the size of the area they cover.After following the first pod for 10 minutes or so Bill took off across the Johnstone Strait to find some other orcas. Within a few minutes
more orcas appeared, much closer this time. Everybody jumped up and started photographing again. Bill identified one of the orcas as Springer who had somehow gotten lost on the south end of Vancouver Island. The northern orcas and southern orcas do not associate with each other so having Springer accepted back into its north pod is significant.
The orcas were swimming up and down the channel just feeding. It was a lot of fun to see them up close; you could see the different markings which are used to identify them. After seeing several pods over the next hour or two we stoppe
d for a lunch of soup and a roll followed by a dessert. When Nicole brought up the dessert we were too busy photographing the sea lions on the shore to stop for dessert.On our way back to drop some of the other
tourists at a remote hotel we saw a black bear wandering along the shore. She looked over at us then just proceeded to walk along the shore not paying us any mind.The trip was great, I highly recommend it. My only disappointment is that I did not get the ultimate orca photo. It is hard work aiming your camera with a long lens to get that close-up photo on a moving boat when you are not certain when and where your orca will make its next appearance. I will have to try again.
After the orca tour was over I continued on to Telegraph Cove another 20 minutes south of Port McNeill. I toured around the tourist shops and visited Tide Rip tours where I had made reservations to go on a Grizzly bear tour. They have been seeing bears consistently so our chances are good to see a bear or two. I can’t wait.
Thank you for stopping by.
Mark
spectacular wildlife photos!
ReplyDeleteoh this is going to be an awesome CD when you get going on that.... in your spare time....lol!