Great Bear Rainforest

 

Telegraph Cove Sea Kayaking is offering three expeditions with a mothership support to three destinations within the area known as the Great Bear Rainforest. This area is one of the largest remaining tracts of unspoiled temperate rainforest left in the world; it is also home to Knight Inlet, Bond Sound or Princess Royal Island. Knight Inlet is a jewel of a coastline that profiles breathtaking wilderness scenery and solitude. Bond Sound is a quiet waterway that offers a place to view the harmony of nature. Princess Royal Island stand alone as an untouched ecosystem and one of few areas to see the Kermode Bear in the wild.

On both of these trips you'll travel up the British Columbia coast in a blend of exploration by mothership boat cruising and sea kayaking. Daily expeditions to estuaries and small rugged islands beyond the Broughton Archipelago are the focus of each trip. These areas support estuaries consisting of glacially fed rivers that bring its nutrients to mix with the waters from the sea. It's an environment with few bugs, spawning salmon and visitations from all God’s creatures. The destinations are unique, especially in their silence, solitude and scenery.

In the background of these trips you will find ruins and signs of a past coastal culture, which has endured 12,000 years of survival. What now awaits us is a lush uncut, unsettled landscape cohabitated by bear, eagle and wolf. Our trips use a variety of crafts to access the wildlife and its inhabitants at a distance. This quiet approach has allowed us to investigate the sensitive biodiversity of each of the destinations we visit.

 

 

Knight Inlet

 

The entrance of Knight Inlet starts in a myriad of islets and islands that give way to the rugged Cascade Mountains of the Coast Range. Our route takes us through the multi-coloured waters of Johnstone Strait and ending with a visit to the estuaries of Glendale Cove. The cruising route takes us into the inlets north of Gilford Island.

Itinerary for Knight Inlet

On day one we’ll depart Telegraph Cove and cruise through the waters shared with Orca and Humpback Whales. Visit a native site where we can sea kayak amongst a large group of small islands and scenic passes. The evening cruise will take us farther into Knights Inlet for the evening.

On the second day you’ll view bears from the deck of our boat and later sea kayak in a perfect setting in the North Broughton Archipelago.

On day three we’ll explore the estuaries and remote shorelines. That evening we’ll cruise into a sheltered bay with a sunset view.

On the final day we’ll sea kayak amongst yet another group of rustic islands before returning to Telegraph Cove in the afternoon.

Trip Details.  .  .

2011 Trip Departure Dates:

            July 15 -  July 17                     July 24 -  July 26

            Aug 12 -  Aug 14                      Aug 26 -  Aug 28

Trip Cost:  $1550 per person (double occupy)

Trip Deposit:  $350 per person  

Recommended Reading:  Beth Hill, Grizzles in the Backyard

Arrival night accommodation is included in the trip cost.

 

 

Bond Sound

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bond Sound is the home of the pristine Atha River Valley. Here we find a delicate balance of nature. The grassy estuary is a favorite spot to see spawning salmon, bear and coastal wolf habitat. The annual salmon spawning event attracts large numbers of birds of prey (including the Bald Eagle), and a small number of resident bears in the area. This is a spiritual trip for those who will take it. Our trip will visit the tidal waters, the small rivers and the rich old growth forest with an intact ecosystem rarely found on the south coast of British Columbia.

Itinerary for Bond Sound Trips

On the first morning our trip starts in the quaint coastal village of Telegraph Cove on Northeastern Vancouver Island. We will cross the migration path of humpback and orca whales enroute to the Broughton Archipelago with a stop for an afternoon of sea kayaking. Here we kayak quietly through a silent passage and islets full of bird life backed by rustic coastal forests. The evening of the first day will take us to a quiet anchorage where we can catch the sunset.

Day Two takes us deeper into the waters of Bond Sound with its towering snow capped mountains and rugged pristine shoreline. For the morning we will cruise through waters where large numbers of white side dolphins make passage. By early afternoon we will anchor and explore the Atha River Estuary from sea kayaks as the tide rises and the afternoon sun warms the water. The afternoon will give us an opportunity to float through an area which remains untouched for six months of the year. Anchorage is set nearby after setting the crab trap.

Day Three begins at anchorage within sea kayaking distance of the gentle flowing waters of the river where spawning salmon gather. A day walk will take us along the perimeter of the estuary into a unique old growth forest with a spectacular waterfall as our terminus. After an early dinner of prawns we can complete the day with a shoreline paddle into waters of seals and jumping salmon. For the evening we will cruise out to a quiet anchorage and another sunset.

Day Four will take us on a return route to Telegraph Cove through a different set of passages and islands with stops to sea kayak into an abandoned native village site where ruins still are in evidence. Once again we will cross the paths of summer resident whales and a variety of wildlife including sea lions and humpback whales with calves. Finally, the focus of these trips is to harmonize with nature whenever and wherever possible. Arrival back at Telegraph Cove is set for late afternoon, in time for you to catch flights or drive southward for accommodations and ferry connections in Nanaimo or Victoria.

Trip Details.  .  .

2011 Trip Departure Dates:

July 8-11, July 22-25, August 5-8, August 19-22, September 2-5, September 16-19

Trip Cost:     $1550 per person (CDN) (double occupy)

Trip Deposit: $350 per person (CDN)

Arrival night accommodation is included in the trip cost. 

 

Princess Royal Island

 

 

 

The Great Bear Rainforest is the name given by environmental groups in the 1990s to a region of temperate rain forest, specifically Pacific temperate rain forest located on the Central and Southern Coast of British Columbia. The forest is 64,000 sq km (25,000 sq mile) in size, twice the size of Belgium. It spans the Pacific Coast from Vancouver Island north to Alaska.It features 1,000 year old cedar trees and 90 metre tall Sitka spruce trees.

Coastal rainforests are characterized by having proximity to both ocean and mountains. The offshore ocean flow into the mountain ranges causes abundant precipitation to fall on the land in between the mountains and the ocean.

The Great Bear rainforest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unspoiled temperate rainforest left in the world. A February 2006 agreement between the provincial government and a wide coalition of conservationists, loggers, hunters, and First Nations established a series of conservancies stretching 400 kilometres (250 miles) along the coast. The protected areas will contain 18,000 km² (4.4 million acres), twice the size of Yellowstone, and another 46,900 km² (11.6 million acres) that is to be run under a management plan that is expected to ensure sustainable forest management.

The area is home to hundreds of species, including cougars, wolves, salmon, grizzly bears, and the Kermode ("spirit") bear, a unique subspecies of the black bear, in which one in ten cubs display a recessive white colored coat

 

Itinerary for Princesss Royal Island Trips

Our trip takes us into the wilderness of Princess Royal Island. On the first morning our trip starts in the coastal village of Klemtu on the northern portion of the Inside Passage to Alaska. We will cruise some of the large passages of this area on route to the waters of Kitasoo Bay and beyond for the next six days. We will use a couple of campsites in remote locations that will enable us to catch a glimpse of wolf, bear, eagles and whales that resident here for the summer. We will do most of our approaches to nature from our kayaks as we quietly float through silent passages shadowed by the moss laiden trees of the coastal forest.  Evenings will find us at anchor is a site where we can enjoy a walk in the forest or on a nearby beach. Time is taken to exploring small creeks where wolf visit on a frequent basis and marshy areas with the hope of catching more than a glimpse of the great white bear of the hidden coast. On one such island it is possible to view  MOKSGM'OL the rare white Kermode Bear. This remains one of the focuses of our trips into this vast area.

 

Trip Details.  .  .

2011 Trip Departure Dates:

**(This trip requires travel by air charter, scheduled airlines or BC Ferry from Vancouver Island to Bella Bella or Klemtu on the Central Coast of British Columbia)

September 19 - September 24       September 26 - September 31

Trip Cost:     $1950 per person (CDN) (double occupy)

Trip Deposit:    $350 per person (CDN)

Arrival night accommodation on boat is included in the trip cost.