Last year, I went on an epic guided kayaking trip with Lindsay in Telegraph Cove to kayak with whales. This summer, I knew I had to return! I headed off on Monday, camping on my own for a few nights before Ali and Katrina joined me.
Day 1
I took the ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo and then drove about 4 hours to Telegraph Cove. The drive was beautiful and I had a great playlist rocking. I arrived at my campsite just before a wicked thunderstorm so it was a mad dash to get everything set up before the torrential rain. For dinner I had chicken souvlaki and beef tenderloin skewers that I had picked up from Granville Island, with tzatziki and pita bread.
Day 2
The next morning I was up at 5:30am to drive to the next town (Port McNeil) for a grizzly watching tour. I’ve seen black bears out West but never a grizzly (thankfully) and was stoked to have the opportunity to see them in the wild. To reach the grizzlies we travelled about 2 hrs by boat up the Knight Inlet, hoping to catch them out grazing at low tide. We were lucky enough to spot two! The first one was on the smaller side and seemed a bit bothered by the boat so we moved on, the second was much larger and did not care at all that we were watching him eat. We even got to see him swim which was really cool!
The tour operator I went with is the only indigenous owned tour company in the area. We boated by the ancestoral homes of both the tour guide and captain and talked a lot about indigenous history. I really enjoyed learning about their experiences, it was a great bonus to the tour.
After the grizzly viewing we headed towards the Broughton Archipelago to look for marine life. We saw 7 humpback whales – one was even launch feeding so I got to see more of its mouth and head than I have ever seen before which was really cool. We also saw 6 orcas and 1 dall’s porpoise, along with a pod of 10 dolphins who swam right under our boat. It was absolutely incredible!!!
We ended up being on the water from 7am to 5:30pm so it was quite a long day but what a trip! I took it easy that night when I returned to camp.
Day 3
Today I finally got to sleep in, after a long travel day and a long day on the water I was pooped! But Steven teases me as my “sleeping in” is like 8am. I made a coffee and walked down to the beach. The tide was out, the sun was out, and I had the beach to myself. I feel so incredibly happy in this place, the absolute ruggedness, the quietness. It really is my favourite place in BC. I felt so weightless and at absolute peace, the whales do something to my soul I swear!
After a quick breakfast I hiked to the lookout on Blinkhorn Horn trail which was about 45 min each way. The views were incredible and I had the trail to myself. Hiking alone, especially in a low traffic area, is always funny – it’s so nice to go at your own pace and very empowering but also slightly terrifying. There was a sign about what to do if you encounter a cougar and one the tips was to show your teeth so best believe I randomly showed my teeth to bushes and played some heavy metal along the way. I looked for whales at the lookout, scanning with my binoculars but didn’t have any luck.
After getting back to camp I organized the car and put as much away as possible to make tomorrow’s tear down in the rain easier. Then I packed a picnic and headed back to the beach. A few bites into lunch I saw a humpback whale! Shortly after, another one! You could hear the sound of the whales breathing through their blowhole which was incredible. About half an hour later I spotted a whale watching boat and sure enough, four orcas!! Including a huge male. It must have been the largest orca I’ve ever seen and I could follow them for a long stretch with my binoculars. It was spectacular and I was losing my mind. It started to rain so I went back to camp to change but came back to the beach. There was no one on the beach given the rain. I was looking through the binoculars looking for whales when I suddenly saw movement on the beach out of the corner of my eye – a black bear came running across the beach about 60 ft from where I was sitting! It was insane how fast it ran and you could see it’s huge muscles working. I quickly looked for bear cubs around me as apparently a mama and her two cubs comb the beach but thankfully it was just her. I started talking to it to let it know I was there, it looked over my way a few times and was sniffing the air, it knew I was there but was more interested in combing the beach and kept walking away. I slowly made my way outta there not wanting to take any chances but it was an incredible experience to add to the day.
Given how much the binoculars made a difference in whale watching today, I decided to head into town to the gift shop to see if they had any for sale that I could pick up for Katrina and Ali. No such luck but I did stop into the interpretive whale museum – the whale bones and information they had was really interesting but the highlight was the live cams and hydrophones. I got to listen to the G clan resident orcas live, who were just further down the straight. The staff knew just from their calls which pod they belonged to which was super cool. The staff helped me identify the orcas I saw earlier today which were T49A – transient orcas which explains why the male was so massive! I really enjoyed speaking with them and they confirmed that there should be good whale activity at the campground I’m headed to tomorrow!
I stopped at the pub for a quick dinner after the museum when suddenly everyone got out of their chairs and ran outside – including the wait staff. There were orcas at the dock! We saw A60, the male resident orca and the A23 clan and I77 clan. Apparently the resident orcas are very social and different clans interact. There were 6 orcas in total including two large males and a little baby!! There was also a pod of Pacific white bellied dolphins chasing them. I could not believe it. An insane amount of whales today and all spotted from land!! What a magical place, my heart is exploding!!!
