| Sailing vacations to Canada's Queen Charlotte Islands and Great Bear Rainforest | |
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Home Schedule & rates Our Schooner
Guests' comments: Group charters National Geographic Television for the Jason Project with Dr. Robert Ballard, who found the SS Titanic. Howard Hall Productions for the Knowledge Network & National Geographic Television Vancouver Aquarium with Dr. Murray Newman Many family & friends vacations and reunions Corporate team building Corporate incentive travel Geodesic surveys Ecological survey for Parks Canada Whale watching in the Sea of Cortez with the Maritime Museum of Los Angeles Scuba diving with whales, dolphins and mantas Offshore training cruises Content and Photographs © 2000-2005 Copper Sky Sailing Adventures |
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May 31st - Day 5 - Bears and the Enchanted Forest |
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The old whaling station Day 12 for me, Day 5 on our trip through Gwaii Haanas. We embarked from Rose Inlet early in the morning and headed straight for the old whaling station at Rose Harbour. Seventy years ago, humpback and fin whales were slaughtered there by the thousands for their oil, blubber and baleen. Fortunately, the whaling industry is long gone from the Queen Charlottes these days and the whaling station is now just a dot on the trail of history that marks these islands. We traveled up the east coast of Moresby and ducked into Skincuttle Inlet late in the afternoon as the skies were clearing up. As we approached our anchoring stop, we spotted our first bear of the trip...actually, it was our first black rock that we thought should be a bear, and when the binoculars came out, we saw that it really was! The enchanted forest We spent the late afternoon and evening exploring a small creek and old growth forest that Trudy affectionately calls 'The Enchanted Forest.' The combination of dark black rocks in the creek bed, several small water falls, giant nurse logs, great beds of moss and giant cedars covered in lichens indeed created an enchanting atmosphere that kept us busy for hours. I loved the area, particularly when I discovered that there was a fairly large coho salmon run there each fall and that lots of black bears congregated along the creek. Bears, salmon, moss, water and big trees - a very nice combination that has been known to draw fool photographers back again and again! The night ended with a spectacular glowing sunset, the mountains around us reflected perfectly in the glass-like waters of the cove we were in. By all standards it was an 'easy' day--a day of rest and relaxation, a day of travel. Tomorrow, we start early...6 a.m.! We're heading out on the first low tide of the day into the richest intertidal zone on the West Coast, the infamous Burnaby Narrows, to search out strange creatures called bat stars, moon snails and sea cucumbers. < Day 1, Canada's 'Galapagos of the North' < Day 2, A New Found Respect for Queen Charlotte Seabird Researchers < Day 2 daytime, A Photographers Paradise < Day 3, Whale Watching Extravaganza < Day 4, The start of a very special day Day 5, Bears and the Enchanted Forest > Day 6, When You Sea Stars of all Colours > Day 7, The Shining Wonder |
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