Kayak the realm of the Orca and Humpback Whales

Imagine beautiful, big white tents set against the backdrop of towering fir trees and the blues and greens of the ocean lapping at your doorstep. Revel in the sounds of silence, interrupted only by the occasional blow of passing whales or the songs of the birds as they wake with the sun. Enjoy extraordinary kayaking at the edge of the Broughton Archipelago in the heart of BC’s coastal paradise. Exclusive boat access delivers visitors to our private Swanson Island where our glamping basecamp is located. Spirit of the West Adventures is happy to introduce you to the newest and most beautiful kayaking and whale watching experience in British Columbia.

Our pristine eco-camp location we’ve secured is second-to-none in terms of scenery, access to excellent kayaking in the islands of the Broughton Archipelago, and of course, watching Canadian wildlife in some of the most productive waters on earth. Just off your doorstep you might see killer whales, humpback whales, eagles, porpoises, dolphins, and any number of incredible intertidal creatures. This really is the best place to camp and kayak with whales in BC.

We’ve been able to build a camp that truly defines the term “glamping”. The 10×12′ tents are 8′ high at the peak for walking in, and feature real beds handcrafted from local cedar by our team here on Quadra Island. Driftwood accents complete the coastal feel, and the crisp linens and warm duvets ensure comfort.

Another feature of this trip is that we don’t just travel by kayak. To help ensure you get the most wildlife sightings possible, we’re including a boat-based whale watching trip as well. You’ll spend several hours in a covered vessel getting further afield and exploring the waters of Blackfish Sound.

If you’ve ever thought about spending time in the realm of the whales, and pristine wilderness of the Pacific Northwest this comfortable trip might be just the one to get you out there. To learn more about this trip, or to make a reservation, have a look at the Whales and Wilderness Glamping page. If you’d like to get to know us more, check out our About Us page, or just give us a call at the number below. We’re always happy to chat about our area.

Spirit of the West Adventures
P.O. Box 569
Heriot Bay
Quadra Island, BC
V0P 1H0

Phone: 250-285-2121
Toll Free: 1-800-307-3982 (From Canada/USA)
Fax: 1-888-389-5736
Email: info@kayakingtours.com
Website: www.kayakingtours.com

Norway’s salmon-farming industry is hitting a wall. Because salmon farming began earlier there than in British Columbia, I wanted to get a glimpse of where we might be headed if our industry continues on its current path. This is the reason I organized the Wild Salmon Delegation to Norway, which spent two weeks there this month.

What we found is an industry beset by problems such as disease outbreaks, sea-lice infestations and farmed-salmon escapes. The situation in Norway is dire — one headline we saw read: “Five years left to save wild salmon.”

Norway’s fisheries minister Per Sandberg spoke at the Wild Salmon in the North conference in Alta, Norway, acknowledging “the mid-Norway situation has been very serious since the end of December.” The crisis is so bad that the Norwegian industry is making headlines by beginning to shift to closed-containment.

B.C.’s industry is over 90 per cent Norwegian-owned, uses the same methods to rear fish and is plagued by similar problems. Will a shift to closed containment in Norway lead to a similar shift here?

The place where I live — Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve — is renowned for old-growth forests and the battles to protect them. But not many people know there are 20 salmon-farm tenures in the sound, with 15 of them held by Cermaq, a Norwegian-based company.

The global salmon-farming industry originated in Norway in the 1970s. By the ’80s, Norwegian salmon-farming companies began to move into British Columbia’s pristine waters. Today, B.C.’s salmon-farming industry is over 90 per cent Norwegian-owned.

While overseas, we learned about the similarities and differences between British Columbia and Norway, heard the emerging Norwegian consensus that open-net pen salmon farming is a dinosaur technology, and witnessed the tide change unfolding daily in major Norwegian media.

Dan Lewis (third from right) of Clayoquot Action with the Wild Salmon Delegation in Norway. Photo: Clayoquot Action Tofino

Norwegians were surprised to learn about the nitrogen pump in B.C. — wild salmon transport ocean-based nitrogen up rivers and fertilize the growth of ancient temperate rainforests. This connection between wild salmon, monumental cedars and the bears, wolves and eagles was novel to them. They also wanted to learn about the importance of cedar and salmon to indigenous cultures throughout B.C.

Delegate John Rampanen, a citizen of Ahousaht First Nation, met Sami indigenous people of northern Norway, who have depended on reindeer and wild salmon for millennia, learning that they are also negatively impacted by industries such as salmon farming and mining.

Some things are different in Norway, where, for example, the biomass of farmed salmon is 1,000 times bigger than the biomass of wild salmon, and the wild-salmon economy is a thing of the past.

In British Columbia, the wild-salmon economy is eight times bigger than salmon farming — supporting indigenous, commercial, recreational and sports fisheries, as well as a $1.4-billion ecotourism industry. Salmon farming puts this pre-existing economy at risk.

A clear consensus emerged over the two weeks in Oslo, Bergen and Alta, through meetings with wild-salmon advocates, academics and journalists. When asked the question: “How can Canada avoid the problems Norway is experiencing with open-net pen salmon farming?”, without hesitation every person we asked replied: “Shifting to closed-containment production is the only way forward.”

Signs of a tide change beginning to sweep the industry were breaking daily in major Norwegian media. Dagbladet, the country’s second biggest paper, ran a story pointing out that catches are plummeting in the Alta, “the world’s best salmon river,” as the amount of farmed salmon in the nearby Altafjord increases. The production manager of Grieg Seafood’s operations in Alta was quoted saying: “The only solution is to get the fish into closed containment.”

The following day, the front page of the Bergen paper read: “CEO of Marine Harvest prepared to invest US $100M: if everything works as planned, closed-containment systems will replace open-net pen salmon farms.” It has taken decades for this industry to acknowledge that their problems will only be solved by isolating farmed salmon from wild salmon.

Young Pink Salmon with sealice infestation in the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia. Photo Copyright: Alexandra Morton

The question for Canada is, do we wait another couple of decades before acknowledging that salmon aquaculture has undesirable side-effects?

While B.C. salmon runs are greatly diminished from historic levels, what is left is world-class and definitely worth fighting for. Wild salmon face a multitude of challenges, but aquaculture is one that is entirely within our ability to regulate.

Moving salmon farms out of the ocean into closed containment will allow wild-salmon populations to rebound and continue to support cultures, economies and ecologies throughout the province as they have for millennia.

By Dan Lewis
Executive Director
Clayoquot Action
Article reproduced with the kind permission of Dan Lewis.

Contact Information
Clayoquot Action
Box 511, Tofino, BC, V0R 2Z0
Email: info@clayoquotaction.org
Phone: 1-877-422-9453
Website: www.clayoquotaction.org

More Information
Alexandra Morton
For nearly forty years, Alexandra Morton has dedicated her life to restoring the balance between the people and the wild salmon off the coast of British Columbia, Canada.

Photo Credit
Feature Photo: The Wild Salmon Delegation in Norway. Photo: Clayoquot Action Tofino

Orca Dreams offers Canada’s first whale watching camp, with BC packages that include 4 days of luxury camping. Orca Dreams has twenty years of experience hosting people from around the world in the wildlife-rich waters of Johnstone Strait and Broughton Archipelago, off the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

Watch surfacing humpback whales, pods of orcas, dolphins, eagles, sea lions or a curious seal pass by while sipping your morning coffee from your waterfront safari-style tent. Whale watch from camp or boat, while kayaking, surrounded by the rich wildlife of coastal BC.

Orca Dreams is situated within the traditional territory of the Mamalilikula-Qwe’Qwa’Sot’Em First Nation, on Compton Island on the edge of Blackney Pass, one of the most wildlife-rich marine ecosystems in the world. Blackney Pass connects Queen Charlotte Strait with Johnstone Strait where the strong currents churn up nutrients from deep below, feeding everything from small herring to the 40-ton humpback whales.

Blackney Pass is also one of the best places in North America to view Orcas – also known as Killer Whales – as they make their way to and from Johnstone Strait and the rubbing beaches of Robson Bight on Vancouver Island.

Orca Dreams
Box 353
Heriot Bay
Quadra Island, BC
V0P 1H0

Phone: 250-202-2765
Email: info@orcadreams.com
Website: www.orcadreams.com

 

 

Fortune favours the brave, we’re told, and adventurous souls carve their own path where few others have travelled before them, creating for themselves a wilderness paradise that would be the envy of most of us, or at least those who can imagine themselves living off the grid, a good distance from shops, services and the modern comforts we consider so essential to our very survival.

In the care of two of these intrepid folks, you can travel beyond the end of the road and wake up in the comfort of a hand-crafted floathouse or seaside cabin, listening to the heartbeat of nature and exploring secluded shorelines by kayak – alone or in the company of your hosts Bruce and Josée McMorran, owners of Paddler’s Inn in Simoom Sound in the Broughton Archipelago, accessed from the community of Telegraph Cove on northeast Vancouver Island.

Bruce McMorran

Bruce moved to his chosen secluded site by kayak in 1980, at the age of just 18, following the call of the whales and nature and his passion to live in and be a part of the wilderness. His homesteading began as a seaside squatter, who after years of persistence and on-site presence and development, was able to arm wrestle the provincial government into allowing a small tenure and right of occupation.

The form of the resort began to unfold over the years, facilitating seaside vacations, guided kayak tours, and wilderness immersion. When not ‘homesteading’ or offering guided kayak trips, Bruce could be found planting trees where once great forests had stood. This suited Bruce’s all-seasons approach to outdoor life, assuring that his personal activities demonstrated a form of wilderness immersion, and an ecological contribution, and allowed for a communal living experience, a welcome contrast to his independent pioneering hermitage lifestyle.

After 10 years of reclusive ocean-side living, Bruce met Josée the world traveller, and they began their family life together. They lived in Simoom Sound running the resort in the summers, and a tree-planting company in the fall and spring.

When the children (Indra and Solomon) were school age, the family moved to Cortes Island to begin a new life of schooling for the kids, and seasonal employment at the Hollyhock Retreat Centre for Bruce as a bodywork practitioner, where he provided Jin Shin Do acupressure, Reiki, deep tissue Esalen massage, and Hakomi body-centered psychotherapy for six years.

Once the offspring were on their own, Bruce turned his attention back to their homestead, and life in the wilderness, returning to re-open the lodge, and live in ‘the cradle of nature’ again. Bruce gets great pleasure out of welcoming guests to reconnect with nature and experience the beauty of the Broughton Archipelago.

Josée McMorran

Josée comes from a large Quebec family, where everybody and their friends would gather every Sunday to celebrate family life by cooking and dining together. Her father’s career as a chef taught her both comfort and expression in the kitchen by preparing nourishing meals for people to savour and enjoy.

Josée’s love of people and children, combined with her curiosity and hunger to know the world, first led her toward a degree in education, followed by years of travelling to many countries to experience a variety of cultures, languages, and ethnic foods.

During one of Josée’s periods back in Canada, after traveling abroad, she met and fell in love with Bruce. She appreciated his lifestyle of ‘living off the land’ and being self-sufficient, living in a small community in the wilderness, where kayaking was their primary mode of transportation.

Never one to shy away from hard physical or mental work, the idea of raising a family and building a business in this wilderness paradise, having to paddle to the post office for mail or paddling home in the dark after a dinner out with a neighbour, seemed more like adventure than hardship.

While on Cortes Island, Josée studied to be an herbalist, and started a line of products under the name Living Soul Herbs. Josée had a huge garden where she grew over 100 varieties of herbs and much of the vegetable needs of her family. Freezing, canning, and drying foods and herbs seemed constant. The life of a farmer is closely connected to the soil, and health of the earth. Her children learned all of the things that would nurture their growth and understanding, as well as their independence and creativity.

Today, with her family grown and rippling out into the world, Josée finds great pleasure in creating an environment where she and Bruce can welcome and receive guests from around the world to enjoy the peacefulness and vibrancy of the nature. She can easily recall the needs of the traveller, and loves to now be able to host world wanderers.

Josée manages guest services at Paddlers’ Inn, ensuring that all the accommodations are fresh and welcoming. She also creates dozens of flowering baskets, adorning and accenting the beauty of each cabin. Her Quebec culture continues to express itself as she creates spectacular meals, inviting guests to gather around their table, to dine, laugh, and celebrate the good fortune of being gathered together in the Broughton Archipelago.

Contact Bruce and Josée McMorran
Paddler’s Inn Broughton Archipelago
Simoom Sound
Broughton Archipelago
British Columbia

Voice Mail: 250-230-0088
Website: www.paddlersinn.ca

Kayak the realm of the whales in British Columbia

This expedition is a professionally-guided 6-day kayaking journey exploring the beautiful Broughton Archipelago and Johnstone Strait area of British Columbia. This is a one-way tour, which means no back tracking, and experiencing something new every day. This region is famous for its abundant wildlife, including orca, humpback and minke whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions, diverse intertidal life, spectacular scenery and rich history.

Camp on remote beaches, view wildlife in their natural habitat, eat gourmet meals prepared by your guides, and then watch the sun go down with a warm cup of tea in hand after a great day of fun, sun and camaraderie with your fellow kayakers. No experience necessary.

We want you to fall in love with kayaking and our unique coast, and our passion shows in everything we do. We also offer several 4-8 day trips for all experience levels in famous Desolation Sound, the Nuchatlitz Provincial Park on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and in the wild Great Bear Rainforest on the Central Coast.

If you are more into ‘Glamping’ style, join our luxury 4-day base-camp tour in Johnstone Strait. Kayak the realm of the orcas and relax in our wood-fired hot tub with the best view overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Unique and breathtaking.

Our adventures are for everyone, and are designed to cater to all levels of experience and abilities. We take care to introduce you to the sport in a fun and safe manner. All that we ask is that you welcome adventure with an open mind and are able to laugh and have fun when encountering the unexpected.

Our groups are small, ranging from 8-13 people, depending on the trip, in order to provide you with the best experience possible. We provide everything you need for a once in a lifetime kayaking adventure. High-quality fiberglass kayaks, paddling equipment, camp cookware, eating utensils, and camping gear.

The Paddler’s Inn in Simoom Sound, Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, Canada.

Our guides take care of you for the entire duration of your tour, and prepare delicious, organic and local meals. All of them have extensive training and experience in sea kayaking and in sharing the natural and cultural history of the area.

Spirit of the West Kayaking
P.O. Box 569
Heriot Bay
Quadra Island, BC
V0P 1H0

Phone: 250-285-2121
Fax: 1-888-389-5736
Toll Free: 1-800-307-3982
Email: info@kayakingtours.com
Website: www.kayakingtours.com

More about Kayaking around Vancouver Island.