Kayaking in the Great Bear Rain Forest is a treat!  I am enjoying this experience with friends Sherry Domenie (travel companion in Belize, Palau, Mongolia...), Joey Kraft and Margie Sinton. 

Saturday, September 6, 2014  Travel Home - Denver - Vancouver, CA; walk in Stanley Park

After traveling half of the day, we arrived at the Sylvia Hotel... lovely hotel across the street from English Bay. We walked for many miles along the water through Stanley Park...many people out strolling, biking, running... enjoying a beautiful afternoon.  Dinner at the Fish House... wonderful spinach salad with seafood plus champagne.  Very nice way to start a vacation!




“On Canada’s west coast between the north end of Vancouver Island and the Alaska border, a wilderness area larger than Belgium winds its way through 250 miles of forested islands and inlets. It is the largest tract of intact temperate rainforest left on earth. … this vast wilderness is laced with some eighty pristine river systems whose abundant runs of Pacific salmon support dense concentrations of rainforest wildlife, including Canada’s largest grizzly bears and the rare all-white spirit bear…”

The Great Bear Rainforest: Canada’s Forgotten Coast  by Ian McAllister and Karen McAllister with Cameron Young… overleaf

Sunday, September 7... Travel Vancouver to Bella Bella to meet the Columbia III; 2+ Hour Paddle!

Breakfast at Sylvia Hotel; taxi to South Terminal; fly to Bella Bella-  Pacific Coastal Airlines, 30 passenger plane… about 2 hours with a stop in Port Hardy (on the northern end of Vancouver Island).

Met Columbia III at fuel dock in Bella Bella. Columbia III has a long and interesting history. She was built in 1956 as a hospital ship, retired in 1968; used as a logging ship during the 1990’s, she endured lots of damage; Mothership Adventures bought the Columbia III in 2003 a ‘cruise/kayak’ ship owned and operated by Campbell family! She is 68’ long and sleeps 10 guests.  We are 9 guests with 4 crew: Captain Tavish, Cook Christina, Guides Luke and Luke.

Sherry and I are sharing a fairly large stateroom in the Fo’c'sle with 3 bunks plus cubbyholes and a head.  Shower in next compartment.  Beds comfortable!

After orientation, we went for a 2+ hour paddle  (4 - 6:30 pm)….  foggy, damp, NO wind and eerily beautiful.  Lots of marine life - star fish of many colors, nudibranchs floating on eel grass, sea cucumbers and bull kelp.

    

 
The loading/unloading process is a science!  Kayaks on a pulley system and a swim deck in the stern; Tavish managing kayaks, with a guide (one of the Lukes!) to steady the boat, we are in/out quite efficiently.

Excellent dinner at 7:30 pm… Salmon Wellington (salmon in puff pastry  with tomatoes and sauce)  and ice cream in puff pastry cups… and wine -Mothership Adventurers' wine.

Monday, September 8  Aboard the Columbia III; Kayaking 5-6 hours

Up at 7 am after a good night’s sleep. Generator starts at 6:30 am as a ‘quiet’ alarm.

Underway about 8 am while we have breakfast..  pancakes with fresh fruit, yogurt, maple syrup.  Large portions and delicious!  

           

Long day of kayaking in and around rocky islands… one crossing of Queen Sound with a swell and the wind in our face… less than 2 miles, yet about 2.5 hours. Short break for snack and pit stop and we are paddling for another hour until lunch about 1:30 pm. Luke collected specimens of the sea in the area we are paddling and presented a briefing for us. After lunch, wind freshening, so paddle about an hour and we meet the Columbia III. All in all, we paddled 5-6 hours today.

        
                        

Hot shower before dinner… feels so good after a day on the water! We are allotted a shower every other day so that we have adequate drinking water for the week.

Excellent dinner of pork loin rolled in bacon with salad. And, of course, wine and a wonderful dessert!

Tuesday, September 9  Aboard the Columbia III; Sea Wolves; Sea Lions; Kayaking ~ 3 hours

Up at 6:30 am to go to Goose Island by zodiac to see and hear the wolves. Would you believe… wolves that live on an island in Queen Charlotte Sound and eat sea food -  fish, clams, sea urchins - and deer.  There is (believed to be) one pack of wolves on the island.  Ian McAllister’s book “The Sea Wolves” says these ‘wolves swim like sea otters and fish like bears’. Apparently, there have been sea wolves for centuries; they have adapted to this environment and are now genetically adapted to their sea life. We are bundled up for cold morning and zodiac ride. In photo, wolf is relaxing on the beach!

    

Breakfast about 9:30 am on board the Columbia III… baked eggs with bacon and tomatoes and cinnamon buns and plenty of really good coffee.  During breakfast, the Columbia III moved north into the wind so that we could paddle down wind most of the day!

Departed boat about 11:00 am to kayak; after 1+ hours, a quick pit stop in a cove and about 1:30 pm stopped at sandy beach covered with logs from old trees for lunch.  Exercise was walking the beach on fallen logs without touching the sand! Off again before 3 pm to paddle about 1+ hour to the Columbia III. Its great to have a ‘mothership’ that can meet us wherever and whenever!  

 

When all aboard - people and kayaks -  we motored to an island filled with sea lions - huge sea lions, whose odor emanated far and wide! Sea Lion photo is Margie's...

While dinner is being prepared, we are traveling north to the fjords and, hopefully, lots of bears - black, grizzly and spirit (a black bear with a recessive gene that results in 10%  being blond). Spirit bears are typically further north than we will travel, but … maybe.

Another excellent dinner!  Pasta with prawns and tomato sauce and a wonderful salad of broccoli and cherry tomatoes.  Dessert was baked pears with mascarpone.

Wednesday, September 10  Aboard Columbia III; Inter-tidal sea life; kayaking ~ 3 hours; Humpback Whales; Spawning Salmon: cruise into Fjords

Breakfast at 7:30 a, while Columbia III travels to Seaworth Channel...part of 'The' Inside Passage' which travels up to Juneau and Glacier Bay, Alaska used by smaller cruise ships

                          

            
After breakfast, exploration of an inter-tidal area by zodiac… sea stars, star fish of many colors (ochre/purple, leather/shades of orange & tan), crabs, shrimp, sea cucumbers.  Joey used her Go Pro under water attached to a stick to video the shore line as we cruised by.   Muscle encrusted branches adorned dead tree trunks.  We viewed this shoreline, abundant with sea life, for about 1.5 hours.

Returning to the Columbia III, we prepared for kayaking. Ready to paddle just after 11 am.  Light wind is behind us as we meander along shorelines through and around a myriad of islands. Lunch around 1 pm in a small sheltered cove.  Another wonderful spread of egg salad, cheese, meat, cucumbers and tomatoes, grapes and brownies. 





The star of the meal was a King Salmon which Luke H caught trolling a line while paddling.  After filleting the fish, he made a grid of sticks attaching all to a long stick as handle and balanced it over an open fire…  fresh caught salmon roasted on an open fire.  Amazing… and delicious!  Paddled another hour+ before returning to the Columbia III.

After paddling, we cruised in Mathieson Channel on our way to see salmon spawning.  A pair of humpback whales swimming near the boat put on a show for us. The highlight was the vast amount of whale feces they expelled!  Luke was able to scoop some up -- a Columbia III first!

Spawning salmon by the thousands, eagles, masses of seagulls… what a wonderful opportunity to experience the Great Bear Rain Forest! And a spectacular sunset.

Dinner  roast beef, spinach salad with roasted beets & hazel nuts, boiled potatoes, lime panacotta!

Thursday, September 11  Cruising in the Fjords - Mussel Inlet…  looking for bears, waterfalls, …

Boat underway at 7 am  cruising into Mussel Bay as we enjoy lots of hot coffee and breakfast of apple clafouti.

Into zodiac by 10 am to explore…. shore and hope to see bears ( or signs of bears). Salmon spawning in river; heads missing from pink and chum salmon indicating wolves in area; bear scat in evidence; huge bear footprints in sand -- but no bears. Forest is hugely lush…

  

Crab pots filed with dungeness crabs… about 10 keepers (6.5” at least)... and steamed crabs with garlic butter for lunch :-)

Beautiful paddle in Mussel Inlet…. surrounded by cliffs that drop vertically into the water. No wind  during  a 2+ hour paddle up the inlet to a giant water fall.  Clouds dispersed leaving blue skies and sun. Does it get better than this?

     

Answer:  Yes, it does!  Left Mothership at 4:25 pm for a zodiac trip and hike up the estuary of Mussel Inlet to see bears. Over the next several hours, we saw 3 different grizzlies! 

In this video, the grizzly on the opposite bank is searching for salmon.

Friday, September 12   Mussel Inlet - Bear viewing; Kynoch Inlet;  kayak + lunch; Cruise to Seaforth Channel.

Just before 5 am I awoke to the sounds of wolves howling, a testimony to our being in a remote wilderness area. Up for the day at 6:30 am to have a quick cup of coffee and depart at 7 am for a zodiac ride and hike into the estuary to look for bears. The gulls are just starting to congregate and look for salmon eggs in their frenetic to and fro dance. Juvenile eagles are having salmon for breakfast. After about 2 hours with no bear sightings - and cold hands and feet - we returned to the Columbia III for breakfast...

a hearty combination of an egg and cheese frittata, sausage and english muffins.  Hard to believe I ate the whole thing!   

Today’s agenda includes moving  from Mussel Inlet into Kynoch Inlet to paddle and look for wildlife. We paddled toward Kynoch estuary for about 3 hours then stopped for lunch on a beach…   cheese,cherry tomatoes, honeydew melon and, of course, bars. Another hour of paddling took us up into the estuary… goal is to find a bear (or two) feeding on salmon… no luck, but certainly a wonderful meander around down trees with large numbers of dead and alive salmon in the water.  
    

That's snow on mountain above Sherry!

After paddling, around 5 pm, we are cruising for about 3 hours south to Seaforth Channel to position ourselves to return to Bella Bella in time for tomorrow afternoon’s flight to Vancouver.  Humpback whale blowing...

Some photos of the Columbia III... our comfortable home.

  

   

Have I said we have an appetizer or two when we return to the Columbia III each afternoon?  Today is sliced apples with cinnamon and candied salmon!   Of course, there are always cookies -- just in case:-)

Dinner - Chicken Marbella!  Have I said that the food has been excellent?

Saturday, September 13 …. Paddle; Brunch; Cruise to Bella Bella -- fly to Vancouver

Early paddle to beach and forest to see cedars that are thousands of years old. Beautiful calm and windless morning… we landed on a sandy beach and walked into a very dense, old growth forest.

On board to pack and have brunch while Columbia III cruises to Bella Bella. Arrived Bella Bella about noon, met by taxis and to airport for 1 pm flight to YVR (Vancouver).  How easy to pack all dirty clothes into duffle! We are sad to leave our floating home - it has been an incredibly interesting week not only kayaking in beautiful surroundings but learning about the ecosystem of the Great Bear Rainforest... wonderful memories.

Arrived Comfort Inn Downtown Vancouver around 330 pm… after taking wet shoes etc. out of bag to dry (!), we walked to Gastown for dinner and people watching. Cuban cigars are legal in Canada :-) Tried to simply eat salad for dinner, but… not possible to pass gelato shop without stopping!

Hotel is conveniently located, but noisy. Saturday night in Vancouver is a big deal… people out until middle of morning.

Sunday, September 14 -- travel home!

10:45 am United flight to Denver...

 

  

      




Our Crew

Captain Tavish Campbell, son of owners of Mothership Adventures.  

Chef Kristina Purcell… prepared exceptional meals for us!  

Guides Luke Hyatt (brother-in-law of Tavish, husband of Miray) and Luke Roman.

Guests






From left: Don & Rita Walker; Allan Reich; Karen Bachelder; Joey Kraft; Denyce Lundeen; Sherry Domenie; Sue Greene; Margie Sinton