A Grizzly Bear Adventure with Homalco Wildlife and Cultural Tours features much more than bears

By Keith and Heather Nicol

On Saturday, August 21 we decided at the spur of the moment to do a Grizzly Bear Tour with Homalco Wildlife and Cultural Tours (HWCT) since they had space and many of their upcoming tours were solidly booked . HWCT has been running land based grizzly bear tours in Bute Inlet for 20 years but just started in August,2021 running their own boat based tours. These tours start in Campbell River and involve a 2 hour boat trip aboard the newly built Klohoy to Bute Inlet and the Orford River Valley on the B.C. mainland. In our group of 12 people there were mostly people from Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of BC.  Enroute we happened across a group of 7 humpback whales near Marina Island so watched those for several minutes before continuing our tour. What a start to our tour! Damien our Captain thought there looked to be a whale calf in the group which is always a good sign for the health of the humpback population. Once the whales headed down for a deep dive we continued on our journey winding through a maze of islands before entering scenic Bute Inlet. The flat calm ocean made for a very smooth arrival at the Orford River Valley.

                    We saw many humpbacks on our trip

 Since we were a bit early Damien suggested we scan the shore for grizzlies and before long we spotted one in the tall grasses of the estuary. This bear cooperated since he ambled along the shore right toward our boat. The bear was still some distance away and wandered over and around large pieces of driftwood before “hiding” behind a large stump. At that point Damien suggested we dock and do the formal shore based bear watching tour that had been arranged for us. But what a great start to our tour. We had seen our first bear and we hadn’t left the boat!! Once we were on the dock at Orford Valley, our shore based Homalco First Nations guides took over the tour. They provided buses and lookout platforms for viewing bears in several different locations in the valley.

We saw all of our bears on the shoreline

                                                                    

  We ended up going to 3 different viewing platforms but in all cases we saw no bears along the Orford River. The grizzly bears typically congregate in the valley in the fall to take advantage of the abundant salmon runs that start in August and go through the fall. Our guides told us that 5 salmon species spawn in the Orford River making it a great place for bear watching. At one station we climbed up on a stand overlooking a creek and could see pink salmon making their way upstream to spawn.  We thought that the first bear we saw might be the only one we would see on this trip and so we returned to our first viewing stand overlooking the estuary. No sooner did we climb to the top than one guide pointed out a grizzly bear near the ocean tugging on some driftwood and then another bear was spotted along a distant beach. No doubt one of these bears was the one we saw upon our arrival. Patience is a key to bear watching and everyone was pleased that our last stop produced some great bear viewing.

 

Our lunch spot on the dock had amazing scenery

After eating lunch on the dock we boarded the “Klohoy” for our return trip. The wind had kicked up for our return trip and Damien tried his best to keep us from smacking into big waves. Fortunately the seas flattened out once we left Bute Inlet and we took a different route back going past Aaron Rapid in full flood tide. The whirl pools and standing waves were very impressive and we were glad we had 2 large motors to propel us through the current. We also had a short stop at Church House (now abandoned) where Flavian , our ship based First Nations guide told us about growing up in this area in the 1960’s. Once we entered Sutil Channel, Damien stopped to whale watch and it wasn’t too long before we spotted a lone humpback slowly making his way toward us. After getting some great pictures we headed back around Quadra Island to Campbell River finishing an amazing ocean - wildlife- cultural tour. Our tour  ended up being close to 9 hours since our guides wanted to pack as much in as they could. Something all the guests on board certainly appreciated. Thanks Damien and Flavian! Besides great scenery and wildlife this tour features aspects of First Nations culture and we fully recommend it. Note that Homalco Wildlife and Cultural tours is the only First Nations boat tour business in Campbell River and they plan on expanding their cultural offerings. The video below shows what our tour was like.  For more information see: https://homalcotours.com/

 

        

This video shows what we saw on our tour