June 28th, 2010

Good moring from the Float House

A wild ride for the 24 teaching staff at Pinecrest Elementary School in Campbell River as they enjoyed a Ocean Rapid Tour yesterday afternoon. A great time as had by all and as luck may have it, we ran into 4 Transient Orca in Bute Inlet on the way home. With a bit of wind in the inlet we simply drifted with the playful small Orca family as they made their way north. A special experience to be sure!

Special thanks to Tina for the great pictures!

Cheers

Hurricane Jack
Campbell River Whale Watching

June 23. 2010

Good morning from the Float House in Discovery Harbour Marina

Question: How long do Grizzly Bears live?

From what I have read, they can live 20 -25 years but until recently, I have never seen a Grizzly that old in the wild. Have a look at this fellow who has recently arrived on an Island in our area. I think he may have been chased off the mainland by competing males.
What is in store for him now? If all goes well he will stay away from the populated part of the island and will live out his remaining years in peace but that is unlikely. Old bear or not, if wonders near homes on the island, the residents will feel he is a threat and his retirement days on the island will be cut short. Sad but true.

Update this morning!

I type, one large male Orca heading north at the Quadra Island lighthouse. Gotta go !

Cheers

Hurricane Jack
Campbell River Whale Watching

June 21, 2010

Good morning from the Float House at Discovery Harbour Marina

We found this sow and her 3 cubs just north of Campbell River at about 10:00 am this morning. If you look closely, you can see that one of the cubs has a hint of "brown" colour in his coat. Interesting as we haven't seen very many "Brown" coated Black Bears on Vancouver Island, they are mainly on Sonora or on the mainland. Perhaps..., we have one in the area.!

Great day on the water. The Bald Eagle show near Stuart Island began yesterday as the Hake finally showed up and today the show was short but we still had about 50+ Eagles feeding. The morning tides are building this week and we should have a tremendous show by the weekend.

Grizzly Bear sightings for the past 7 days on one of the Islands north of Campbell River. Pictures on tomorrows site.

Cheers

Hurricane Jack
Campbell river Whale Watching

June 9th, 2010

Good morning from the Float House in Discovery Harbour Marina

Summer finally arrived here on the coast yesterday and what a day it was. Off the dock at 9:00 am, the water was like glass the entire 4 hours. We thought the story of the day was going to be the Pacific White Sided Dolphin as they seemed to be everywhere but then we ran into the energetic Dall Porposie near Okissolo Channel and they stole the show. What a high energy mammal they are, darting everywhere with no real objective in mind. (sorry no pictures as those guys are just too fast)

The evening was topped off with a large group of Transient Orca travelling slowly north in Discovery Passage. We counted at least 12 but there may have been more. A few pictures gave us some ID's of T18, T20 and T21 but we eventually put the camera away and drifted with them silently as they made their way through Seymour Narrows and not a boat in sight !

It is days like this that help us to remember just how lucky we are to live here on the coast.

Cheers from Campbell River


Hurricane Jack
Campbell River Whale Watching

Monday , June 6, 2010
Good morning from the Float House in Discovery Harbour Marina
We are back up and running and I have finally found some time to get to the computer. What a spring it has been !
While the weather in May and the first part of June has not been that special, the wildlife has! We have been seeing lots of Black Bear as well as Humpbacks over the past 4 or 5 weeks. Today we found a large Humpback "bubble feeding" on the slicks of pink krill that have been flushing back and forth in the large tides we have been experiencing. (pic attached) The Krill season is short in this area and we were very fortunate to get this opportunity today.
A bonus for the evening were the 2 Transient Orca that surfaced about 5 minutes before we were to enter the marina. These 2 female orca were heading north slowly, following the ebb tide at about 7:30 pm. One of them seem to have a fresh nick in the back (middle) of her dorsal fin. We could find her in our ID book and unfortunately didn't get a good picture either.
If you are north of Campbell River this morning, heads up ! They are coming your way.
Cheers
Hurricane Jack
Campbell River Whale Watching