After an awesome time in Tofino it was time to head to our next stop, a 5.5 hour journey over to the East coast of Vancouver Island to Telegraph Cove where Orcas and Grizzly Bears were next on the ‘Skinner agenda’. The early bird certainly catches the worm, as just 30 minutes after leaving Tofino at 6:30am we came across a Black Bear mother and her very young solitary cub, happily browsing on berries just along the main road toward Port Alberni. They did not grace us with their presence for long but enough time to catch a glimpse and a quick 20 second burst of video, proof that bears are everywhere!
With just a quick stop in the town of Campbell River we arrived shortly after lunch to ‘Hidden Cove Lodge’. In contrast to the town location of our previous accommodation Hidden Cove Lodge is a stunning and very secluded 10 room wilderness lodge right on the water front of Johnstone Strait, an area famed for the resident Orca pods and the location of where many of the ‘famous’ shots of Orcas have been captured. We were delighted to be spending the next 3 nights here.
On arrival, the area immediately around the lodge was shrouded in a thick fog, giving us only a few metres of visibility out to sea, but enough to see that we were going to be very happy staying here. After a quick check in and bags deposited in the room we made the most of our time and explored the lodge grounds.
We had seen more scat on the gravel road leading to the lodge and Dan, our friendly host and owner of the lodge explained that bears had been nearby the lodge daily for some time, could this possibly get any more perfect!? Would we see one of his local bears? we certainly had hoped so.
The lodge has its own private jetty, two local fisherman patiently sat in hope of catching dinner for the evening. Andy soon revealed his ‘secret’ interest in fishing and within 30 minutes of arriving had a rod in hand, kindly loaned by one of the two local guys. Talking to them was fascinating, a bounty of local stories and tales of previous catches dominated the conversation.
As we sat on the jetty the fog began to lift, as it did we had no idea of what scenery was about to unfold, it was absolutely stunning and there are just not enough adjectives to describe its beauty. The sky was no longer a pale misty blue but now a deep shade of blue. The straight was calm and glassy and huge forests on an island opposite were slowly revealed. Followed by snow capped mountain peaks in the far distance. All this beauty was unravelled slowly, piece by piece. We were quite categorically in wilderness heaven!
A cute little Sea Otter joined us on the jetty, as the majestic Bald Eagles sourced above and Kingfishers torpedoed into the water. After around one hour suddenly Andy felt something tugging on the line, did he have a ‘catch’ or had he just caught a bunch of kelp?. As he pulled the line out it revealed his patience had paid off, perhaps not what Andy and I quite expected (Andy was after a nice big Halibut!) but he had caught a fish, a small Rock Cod. The Rock Cod spent just a moment in Andy’s hand and then it was time to release the little fella back into the water.
Leaving the fisherman to pack up, the sun to set and then to a hearty home cooked dinner it was time to get some rest after a long, but great day. We had another early start before us and the first of our two trips for ‘Operation Orca’.
Hidden Cove Lodge
Hidden Cove Lodge
After the fog lifted....view from Hidden Cove Lodge
The reason why its called Hidden Cove Lodge!
Grounds of Hidden Cove Lodge
Andy fishing with the locals at a foggy Hidden Cove
Not quite the Halibut that Andy had hoped for!
No comments:
Post a Comment