2022/09 Great Bear Rainforest - Khutze |
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Thursday - Khutze
I had another bad night. My prostate surgery two years ago had left me with a 
few problems that flare up occasionally.
Our destination for the day was the Khutze River, just across the Inside Passage from Canoona, our first day’s destination. This time our skipper was Moose. He said that he was always the biggest kid in his class and the other kids called him Moose and the name had stuck.
Unfortunately for us, the plan for the day was to take to the zodiacs and head into the estuary. Sandie didn’t want to risk her leg to the zodiacs so she stayed on the boat. I didn’t want to risk being away from the bathroom for a couple of hours, so I stayed too. 
Moose anchored the boat below this waterfall and launched our two zodiacs. We watched the seals chasing fish and chatted with Moose. 
It was another foggy day so we couldn’t even see the Khutze or the zodiacs. Farther down the passage the view was free of fog but the clouds were swirling and giving us beautiful reflections.
The zodiac crews were quite successful, finding a mama grizzly with two cubs. She was sitting up and her cubs pushed her over so she fell on her back and they could climb on and nurse. It was a shame to have missed that.
We were supposed to go look for whales and sea lions after this but we got a call from the boat at Canoona to tell us that there was a spirit bear on the beach. This would be an opportunity for Sandie and Rowena to see what they’d missed on Tuesday, but by the time the zodiacs had been recalled and we’d boogied over to Canoona the bear had gone back upstream.
We set off back to the lodge. 
Things were quiet and most of us were half asleep when the radio squawked “Orca!” and we saw two dorsal fins right beside us. The pod was traveling north and we were going south. We turned to get a better look and I also spotted a baby orca traveling close to shore.
However, there are strict rules for observing orcas, and we soon gave up the chase, but it was a nice way to end our day.
This was our view of Klemtu as we returned for the last time. It’s an industrial view, reflecting the town’s history with extractive industries. They are hoping that the lodge will provide them with a more sustainable future.
We had dinner sitting with Mark and Donna who were currently living just outside Okotoks. He’d had an outdoors job which took him into areas with large grizzly populations so he had many photographs of them. He put on a picture show for everyone that evening. I noticed that although most of his grizzlies were magnificent animals there were quite a few that were straggly or just plain ugly. I’ve noticed the same wth my pictures – I’m glad my ugly bears are normal.