Staff Trip Report: 2 - Chris Breen in Canada, September 2008

A morning walk along the waterfront and a breakfast visit to the rather amazing Pacific Yellowfin. This wonderful old wooden boat has been beautifully restored by its passionate owner to its former glory and is now offered for charter to people who would like to enjoy the BC coast from the comfort of a wonderful old boat. It accommodates four couples in fabulous rooms and works its way up the coast looking for bears, whales and dolphins. The food is well worth writing home about too.

So, as I type this, I am sat aboard a twin-engined Saab 340, heading north from Vancouver. We are flying over the snow-covered, sun-drenched Rocky Mountains, and I can see great rivers of glaciers below me. Between us and King Pacific Lodge, is a landing in Prince Rupert and a short float-plane flight.
The normal route to King Pacific from Vancouver is not actually via Prince Rupert, but via Bella Bella, but there were low clouds and rain in Bella Bella which prevented the float planes from taking off, hence having to fly quite a bit further north to then return south again to Barnard Harbour and King Pacific. It was well worth it though as we were flying at around 120 metres above ground and we managed to see not one, but two Humpback Whales from the air on our short flight – with any luck this is a good omen for the days to come!

We arrived into the lodge at around 18.30, the water was still and the lodge looked beautiful nestled into the trees at the end of the inlet. We were greeted with a glass of champagne as we stepped off the float plane and I was instantly made to feel at home by the many people who looked after us at Festival of Wildlife last year. Robert, Marlene, Nicki, Michelle, Tarron and a host of others all return to work and guide here year in year out.

Dinner was an event in itself as the chef (Max) is considered to be one of the top chefs in British Columbia. Oysters for starters and tuna for main course accompanied by some of BC’s very best wines.

Tomorrow we are heading off for a full day of bear-watching… so let’s hope there are some bears around to see!