Join us for a special trip in June 2012 and WE WILL DONATE 10% OF THE COST OF YOUR TRIP TO AN ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATION that is helping STOP OIL SUPER TANKERS on our North Coast!
We will travel through some of the most powerful and soul stirring landscapes on earth... along the proposed route of oil SUPER tankers that could ply these waters if the Enbridge pipeline is built from Alberta's tar sands to "beautiful British Columbia's" coastal port of Kitimat.
Join us from June 23 - June 29, 2012 and see for yourself, why this project cannot be allowed to proceed and how you can lend your voice to help stop it.
Moments that Inspire Us... ...a Story from the Great Bear Rainforest
Wisps of mist hang in the towering, moss- draped trees of the Great Bear Rainforest that rim this river estuary. Eagles with outstretched wings perch on old snags, revelling in the warmth of the sun that is just beginning to peer over the mountain- tops. The sweet smell of mother earth wraps around us like a well- loved blanket and the symphony of songbirds floats from the forest beside us.
Floating in our 16 ft zodiac we are all mesmerized by the reflections in the perfect calm of the tidal channel... beauty found in such simplicity... patterns where the forest meets the water... a mother merganser and babies dwarfed by sedge grass.. and the thunder of a nearby waterfall as it tumbles out of the rainforest.
As we peer into the shade of the forest floor we often feel like eyes are watching us but on this morning we see those exquisite eyes staring back at us! "Eyes are windows to the soul" comes to mind as she follows us with her amber eyes. As the zodiac comes to rest in the sedge grass across the channel from her, she lazily gets up and changes positions still bewitching us with her eyes. Finally, she rises, stretches and makes her way down the bank to the grassy estuary, followed by her yearling cub!
How can anyone ever completely explain what we feel when a mother Grizzly sits on the grass in front of you and closes her eyes while her cub noisily nurses just feet away? Or how it makes you giggle when the cub sits like a human being in the grass, paws folded neatly on his tummy?
The gifts of these images, sounds, and smells from this inlet in the Great Bear Rainforest play in my head all winter long... inspiring me to help look after these soul stirring places on our coast.
When I'm sitting in the office of my local M.L.A., explaining why neither the trophy hunting of our wildlife nor oil SUPER tankers should be allowed on our coast, I can still feel the mother Grizzly's gaze from her moss covered pillow in the Great Bear Rainforest.
This last photo was taken in 2010 of the same Mother Grizzly and Cub. It never ceases to amaze us how much they change and grow in just 12 months!
April 4, 2011
The proposed Enbridge pipeline from the oil sands to Kitimat and the oil super tankers that would carry the crude oil through some of B.C.'s most important ecosystems cannot be allowed.
Ta'Kaiya, a 10-year old Sliammon aboriginal girl, who now lives in Vancouver, tells the story through her music video.
Watch the video on our Environmental Alerts page.
April 2, 2011
Because we offer trips with such small group sizes (never more than 6 guests), and because we plan trips around seasonal events, our trips do book up quickly. Several people have asked us lately how far in advance they should book. Some guests are already booking trips in 2012 with trips in Haida Gwaii at a premium!
The following will give everyone an idea of what the majority of our guests are doing.
JUNE and early JULY in the GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST
Although you may still find space available just a few months prior to the trips in June, most of our guests book 6 months to a year in advance. This gives you more choice of dates and perhaps even your first choice of staterooms.
If you would like to book the whole ship for a Custom (Private) Charter, we recommend that you book a year in advance to get the dates that are best for your group.
Contact us to learn about trips that we have recently added to accommodate all the requests we are having for June and early July in the Great Bear Rainforest.
If you're planning on traveling with us next year, see our 2012 SCHEDULE with dates for trips along the sheltered waters of the Inside Passage in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest.
JULY and early AUGUST in HAIDA GWAII (formerly the "Queen Charlotte Islands")
Although you may still find a few spots available as late as March, it is a good idea to plan at least 6 months and preferably a year in advance. The logistics of offering trips in the very remote Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site means that we plan trips here based on early demand for the trips.
If you would like to plan a trip to Haida Gwaii with your family or with a special group of friends and book the whole ship for your Custom (Private) Charter, we recommend booking at least a year in advance to get dates that are best for your group.
To get the best dates and your choice of staterooms, we highly recommend booking a year to a year and a half in advance. (We are already booking these trips in 2012!)
If you would like to book a Custom (Private) Charter in September, we highly recommend calling up to two years in advance to get the best dates.
We have added a 5-day trip in early October into Fiordland which at this time of year will offer some spectacular Grizzly viewing and perhaps even a Spirit Bear sighting.
If we cannot accommodate your requests for dates in 2011 to see the Spirit Bear, we can now offer you dates in September 2012.
Our 2012 SCHEDULE (as developed so far):
If you have an idea for a trip that you don't see offered on our schedule, please contact us to discuss the possibilities.
If there is a trip you would love to do again but you don't see it on our schedule, please contact us to see if we're planning to repeat it.
2012 SCHEDULE
Inlets of the Grizzly/the Inside Passage 8 days/7 nights (Klemtu to Prince Rupert) (June 4 - 11, $4100 + tax)
Seaplane flight from Hartley Bay to Prince Rupert included
The Northern Inside Passage 5 day / 4 nights (Prince Rupert to Prince Rupert) (June 13 - 17, $2725 + tax)
Seaplane flights from Prince Rupert - Hartley Bay included
Islands at the Edge / the Inside Passage 7 days / 6 nights (Prince Rupert to Prince Rupert) (June 19 - 25, $3825 + tax)
Seaplane flights from Prince Rupert - Hartley Bay included
Inlets of the Grizzly / the Inside Passage 8 days / 7 nights (Prince Rupert to Klemtu) (June 27 - July 4, $4100 + tax)
Seaplane flight from Prince Rupert to Hartley Bay
Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) 7 days / 6 nights (Sandspit to Sandspit) (July 15 - 21, $3950 + tax)
Seaplane flight to or from the ship included
Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) 7 days / 6 nights (Sandspit to Sandspit) (July 21 - 27, $3950 + tax)
Seaplane flight to or from the ship included.
Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) 7 days / 6 nights (Sandspit to Sandspit) (August 1 - 7, $3950 + tax)
Seaplane flight to or from the ship included.
The Inside Passage 8 days / 7 nights (Prince Rupert to Prince Rupert) (August 20 - 28, $4250 + tax)
Seaplane flight from Hartley Bay to Prince Rupert included.
Contact us for details on this trip
Islands of the Spirit Bear / Waters of the Humpbacks 7 days / 6 nights (Prince Rupert - Pr. Rupert) (August 29 - Sept. 4, $3950 + tax) Seaplane flights Prince Rupert - Hartley Bay return
Islands of the Spirit Bear / Waters of the Humpbacks 7 days / 6 nights (Prince Rupert - Pr. Rupert) (September 6 - 12, $3950 + tax)
Seaplane flights Prince Rupert - Hartley Bay return
Islands of the Spirit Bear / Waters of the Humpbacks 7 days / 6 nights (Prince Rupert - Pr. Rupert) (September 13 - 19, $3950 + tax)
Seaplane flights Prince Rupert - Hartley Bay return
Islands of the Spirit Bear / the Inside Passage 9 days / 8 nights (Prince Rupert to Bella Bella) (September 21 - 29, $4475 + tax)
Seaplane flight from Prince Rupert - Hartley Bay included
Fiordland's Bears in October 6 days / 5 nights (Klemtu to Bella Bella) (October 2 - 7, $3375 + tax)
No seaplane flights required
If you would like to design your own Custom (Private) Charter, the price per day for the ship is $2750 per day plus tax. Contact us for available dates and areas in which to travel.
**PRICES QUOTED FOR 2012 WILL REMAIN UNCHANGED UNTIL
OCTOBER 15,2011, WHEN THEY MAY RISE BY UP TO 5% **
ARTISTS can join us for a 5 day / 4 night Artists' Workshop in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. "Waterfalls & Wildflowers will take us through the some of the world's most powerful landscapes in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. The polished granite walls that rise thousands of feet out of the sea are laced with waterfalls that seem to fall from the sky. With backdrops of snow blanketed mountain peaks and rimmed in old growth forests, the river estuaries we will visit are carpeted in wild flowers and teeming with new life.
Vancouver Island artist and instructor Irene Khurana will join us in these spectacular landscapes to teach us how to capture the essence of this awe inspiring wilderness.
To see a video filmed in the same area, please enjoy the following You Tube video. Click on our Waterfalls & Wildflowers page to learn more, and our Schedule page for dates and prices.
"LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY"... with Dave Hutchison
This is an exclusive 6-day photo tour designed specifically by published photographer Dave Hutchison, to experience the powerful landscapes of the wild Great Bear Rainforest and it surroundings.
This is an amazing opportunity for avid photographers to join Dave in a photo workshop to photograph the unique landscapes, wildflowers and possibly whales, of the northern Great Bear Rainforest.
Dave's goal for the 6 days is to ensure each participant has an incredible experience that will last a lifetime. Then advancing and enriching photographically through composition, lighting, lens selection, camera setting, proper tripod and handhold camera technique, depth of field, aperture, ISO settings will be constantly worked. Photoshop CS4/CS5, NIK Software plug-ins, and Nikon Capture NX 2 techniques will be explored as time permits.
To see photographs taken by landscape photographer Patrick DiFruscia in the same area, and learn more about this exciting opportunity, visit our Photo Workshops page and our Schedule page for dates.
You can contact Dave Hutchison through his website davehutchison.ca.
See the above You Tube video to see the area in which we will be traveling.
Early July 2011 will find us on the central coast in B.C.'s Fiordland. With your choice of a 5 day / 4 night trip beginning and ending in Klemtu OR a 7 day / 6 night trip beginning and ending in Bella Bella, you are sure to be impressed by the powerful landscapes, impressive wildlife viewing and whale watching, and the unique cultures of the aboriginal peoples whose traditional lands we will be traveling in. Dates begin July 4. Contact us for prices and the dates you prefer.
FIORDLAND'S GRIZZLY & SPIRIT BEARS in OCTOBER
Guests joining us in the aboriginal village of Klemtu on B.C.'s central coast will have just dropped into the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest and into a prime area and a prime time for seeing bears fishing for salmon! This 5 day / 4 night trip will begin/end in Klemtu from where we will travel to some of the best creeks and rivers to see Grizzly Bears and other creeks where we may even see the rare Spirit Bear. See our Fiordland - October Grizzly Tour to learn more about this trip. Dates for this trip are October 3 - 7 and a cost of $2975 + tax.
Almost all of our trips take place in areas along the route of the proposed oil SUPER tankers (each with carrying capacities of up to 2 million barrels of oil)! If the proposed Enbridge pipelines from the oil sands in Alberta to the Port of Kitimat are built, the oil SUPER tankers will be the single largest threat EVER to our coast.
Ocean Adventures has DONATED A 5 day/ 4 night TRIP TO THE HEART OF THE GREAT BEAR RAINFOREST to raise money for one of the most important campaigns in the history of our province... to STOP these oil SUPER tankers.
Want to win a trip to the Great Bear Rainforest with Ocean Adventures?
to see where you can buy tickets. (Sadly, raffle tickets can only be purchased by B.C. Residents, that are of age. Visit Sierra Club for further details, or contact us.
Visit our Enviro Alerts to learn why we have made this donation, what it is being used for, and WHO YOU CAN CONTACT to buy raffle tickets to win this amazing trip, (among many other wonderful prizes).
Visit PACIFIC WILD and see "spOIL", an extremely compelling documentary that shows what is at stake on our central and north coasts should the oil SUPER tankers be allowed to come here.
If you've traveled with us before you will recognize some faces and places in this important film!
First class BC wilderness cruises, coastal tours and charters on the West Coast of British Columbia aboard the 54 ft. Great Bear II, out of Vancouver, BC.
· Haida Gwaii · Queen Charlotte Islands · Great Bear Rainforest · Gulf Islands · Princess Louisa Inlet ·
· Desolation Sound · Howe Sound · Indian Arm · Whale Watching · Bear Viewing · Wilderness Adventures ·
