More Canadian Wildlife

I recently added a post about my Grizzly bear trip in Canada and whilst my wife and I were there couldn’t resist another boat trip, this time looking for Black Bears. The original trip we booked actually got cancelled due to bad weather so we rebooked onto another one!

The tour departed from the docks near our Airbnb in Tofino and it only took us 5 minutes to spot our first bit of wildlife, a Bald Eagle devouring a fish on the coastline, we got close enough on the boat for some good shots, I was very relieved as I’d many eagles on the trip but this was the first time I could get close enough for a good photo.

We didn’t realise at the time of booking but the boat was actually a very fast speedboat which was a little bit terrifying in the choppy sea, especially as we had to squeeze into floatation suites before embarking on the trip!

The next animal we saw was a Black Bear searching the rocky coastline of the islands of Clayoquot sound for a meal. We even managed to get very close and followed it along the coastline for quite a while as it negotiated the rocky scenery. We had been so lucky to see around 12 bears on our trip and they were always an amazing and surreal sight.

As we started heading further round the islands we heard radio messages from other boats of Wolves on Vargos Island. The captain made a beeline for the island and as we approached it was deadly silent as we all scanned the island looking for anything moving. It didn’t take long for us to hear the howls of multiple wolfs and then finally we saw 1, then another 2! The group of wolves walked along the beach and we watched for a good 30 minutes. They were too far away for a decent photo but it really didn’t matter and sometimes its good enough just seeing something as incredible as that sight. We couldn’t believe our luck, the chances of actually seeing wolves were so slim and it truly was a once in a lifetime experience that will hold onto forever. Vargos Island is one of the islands here with the most wolf inhabitants.

Next on the trip was to see the Grey Whales, the captain knew of a good spot nearby and we saw 2 of them as they created plumes of mist into the horizon while swimming around a bay near to Vargos Island.  Lastly we also lots of Otters, too many to count, which were Emma’s favourite of the day as they held hands a created giant rafts together. It was a fantastic boat trip and we saw more than we ever thought we would!

The final bit of wildlife we saw in Tofino was Black Bears hunting Salmon at Thornton Creek Salmon Hatchery in Ucluelet where we saw 2 more Black Bears scouring the creek for Salmon. Unfortunately for the bears they were a little bit too early for the Salmon at this creek but they looked hopeful! Hopefully the Salmon arrived after we left but I’m sure they had some berries left to pass the time until they did.