Cruising into Canada
Humpbacks and killer whales roam the seaways. In autumn the skies are alive with bald eagles that fly in to feast on the spawning salmon, and the rainforest’s vast evergreen canopy conceals a host of mammals including bears, beavers, grey wolves and cougars.
Lord of cheap moncler jackets the backwoods is the grizzly bear, an apex predator that can tip the scales at a quarter of a ton, and this moncler outlet is one of its last great strongholds.
Here, too, lives the legendary Kermode or spirit bear. This reclusive creature is actually a discount moncler jackets black bear with a hiccup in its gene pool that causes its fur to turn white. But while black bears are common, there are no more than 400 spirit bears, all confined within Island Roamer’s cruising grounds.
Spirit bear with its catch, Great Bear Rainforest
As with most small ship cruises, space in her eight double cabins best moncler jackets is at a premium, although there is always room to stretch out in the saloon, where tea and coffee are permanently on tap, miraculous meals (steaks, salmon, chowders, halibut) are conjured by the ship’s cook and accompanied at dinner by complimentary house wines.
But what makes Island Roamer so special is the way she and her crew enable you to go eyeball to eyeball with the Rainforest Coast. Quite simply, she can venture where no other cruise ships can. „Being in this place makes me feel alive,“ said Xander Oldaker, her captain, „and when it comes to wildlife the Raincoast always delivers.“
No sooner had he spoken than we saw a six foot switchblade of polished obsidian cleaving the surface. It was the dorsal fin of an orca, or killer whale. „My favourite animals,“ said Oldaker. „I often dream about riding them.“
These orcas are transients, he explains. Unlike the resident groups that feed exclusively on fish, they are ocean wanderers true cheap moncler coats mens killers that prey on seals and other marine mammals. To watch their piebald torpedo shapes powering through the water is to know moncler outlet online you are in the presence of the Rainforest Coast’s ultimate predator; and when they dive, sliding back into their own weightless world of blue black depths, Xander switches on the hydrophone so we can hear them talking to each cheap moncler jackets mens other in their cetacean language of squeaks and whistles.
In the evening, having anchored for the night in the mirror calm of Mussel Bay, we donned life jackets, hopped into the ship’s twin Zodiac inflatables and waded ashore to follow a bear trail up the Mussel River. The river was alive with spawning salmon and as the sunset flared and faded on the peaks above a mother grizzly and her cub emerge from the shadows moncler outlet store to fish in the rapids 50 metres upstream.
„Often they come much closer,“ said Oldaker, whose only weapon is a pepper spray canister slung moncler outlet woodbury like a six shooter at his hip. „How close?“ I asked. „Never nearer moncler sale online than 15 feet,“ he said, adding reassuringly: „but there has never been a grizzly bear attack when more than a handful of people were present.“
Back on board we cruised into bright sunlight and encountered more orcas in playful mood, soaring like Exocets from the deep. „You’re lucky to see such spectacular behaviour,“ said Sherry Kirkwold, the ship’s resident naturalist.
On we sailed, past sea lions basking on the shore and sheer cliffs daubed with mysterious pictographs faded images left long ago by First Nation artists using ochre made from salmon eggs. Most of the time we puttered along at a leisurely pace to make the most of wildlife sightings; but one afternoon when the breeze got up the crew hoisted all sails and we scudded over the water under a full spread of canvas.
Next day we moved on to another river mouth and took to the Zodiacs again, paddling upstream in search of moncler sale more grizzlies. Instead cheap moncler jackets womens we surprised five grey wolves asleep on a rock. Like the bears, they, too, feed and fatten on the seasonal glut of spawning salmon.
Now, one by one, they awoke, stretching leisurely before slipping away like ghosts into the forest. „Wow,“ exclaimed Sherry. „That’s something we don’t see on every trip.“
Until now we had enjoyed glorious October sunshine but overnight the weather changed. Over the next three days we began to discover how the Great Bear Rainforest got its name. The mountains vanished in the clouds and at times the moncler outlet prices air became almost liquid. But we came prepared. Dressed in rain gear and rubber boots we waded ashore into a muted watercolour world no less beautiful than when the sun was shining.
We followed well trodden grizzly trails across sedge grass moncler usa flats where clumps moncler sale outlet of blue cheap moncler sale asters grew. Some of these bear highways have been used by generations, Sherry told us. At last we came to a dark grove of spruce trees within whose shelter lay piles of half eaten salmon. In places the tree trunks linked site https://www.cheapmoncler.com cheap moncler had been worn smooth by grizzlies using them as rubbing posts, but the bears themselves remain elusive.
The rain utterly failed to dampen our spirits. Some moncler womens jackets of us went kayaking while others luxuriated in a thermal hot spring, and at one point Xander nudged our bows into a cliff side waterfall to provide volunteers with an alfresco shower.
At the end of the week we reached Gribbell Island, home moncler uk outlet of the rare spirit bear that everyone was desperately hoping to see. Here we met with Marvyn Robinson, a First Nation member of the Gitga’at tribe, who saw his first spirit bear when he was 21 years old.
Now in his mid forties, Robinson whose Gitga’at name is One Step Up probably knows more about these elusive rainforest denizens than anyone else on earth, and if anyone can find one for us, it is he. „We call them moksgm’ol the ghost bear,“ he said. „But growing up at home we never spoke their name aloud because uk moncler sale to us they are sacred.“
Inside the forest the trees closed in, creating an eerie green twilight in which everything was damp and dripping. Some of these forest giants were 90 metres high, and older than the Tower of moncler outlet sale London.
The air was thick with the reek of decay. Cushions of sphagnum moss sucked at our boots as we clambered over a tangle of fallen logs and splashed through tea coloured forest pools until at last we reached a rushing river.
Robinson pointed at the opposite bank and out of the shadows a pale wraith emerged. It’s the spirit bear, plump as a panda, with small, piggy eyes and a dense, shaggy coat that is not so much white as peaches moncler online store and cream. „A female,“ said Robinson as cameras recorded the moment. „We know each other well.“
She took the photo shoot in her stride, as relaxed as any catwalk supermodel, and then plunged into the river to grab a salmon by the tail. The last we saw of her was her broad rump vanishing into the aquarium gloom from which she first appeared.
At the beginning of the cruise we were all complete strangers, drawn together only by a shared love of wildlife and soft adventure. But when it ends uk moncler outlet back in Bella Bella, such is the camaraderie forged between passengers and crew that several of my companions are in tears when we step ashore for the last time.
What to bring: Camera and binoculars; knee high rubber boots (essential for wet landings from Zodiacs); completely waterproof rain gear (jacket and over trousers); hat, gloves and warm clothes all packed in a soft bag that can be easily stowed away on board.
