Telegraph Cove

Thursday, 12th August 2010

 

After a lovely Hotel breakfast, we walked around the Nature Reserve and watched the seals splashing to catch fish.

It was a long journey from Courtney to Telegraph Cove, but we split it by visiting Mount Washington, which had great views....... and snow!  We caught the cable car to the top and fed some birds there. 

 Pete and Hels on the cable Car

Barometer on Mount Washington

Carole at Mount Washington feeding the birds

After a lovely fish and chip meal at the Lodge we travelled on to Telegraph Cove, stopping off at the Campbell River for shopping.  A black bear ran across the road in front of us and disappeared into the shrubbery.

At Telegraph Cove, we found the tent site we had booked was awful, so we swapped for a better site, albeit on gravel and put up our tents.

Friday, 13th August to Monday, 16th August 2010
We spent 4 nights camping at Telegraph Cove, a really wild and beautiful site in one of the quietest parts of Vancouver Island.

We had booked  two days viewing wildlife from boats,the first to see the Grizzly bears (with cubs) at Knights Inlet.  Heavy fog marred the outward journey but by the time we arrived at the Inlet at around 10.30, the sun was out.  We saw a total of 3 mother bears with 2, 2, and 3 babies each.  We also saw bald eagles, osprey, goshawks, seals and porposises.
 .

 Grizzly Bear with Cubs at Knights Inlet
 

The second trip out was a whale watching trip; the weather was perfect, warm and sunny so we were fortunate enought to see Humpback Whales, Sealions, Porpoises (Harbour and Dalls), and best of all, a pod of Orcas which we watched for a good half an hour.  These orcas are not killers but feed on fish as do other dolphins.

 Orcas from the boat

In the afternoon, we drove out to Port McNeil, Port Hardy and Coal Harbour but they didn't have the charm of Telegraph Cove.

On Sunday, we drove down the coast to Port Alice through stunningly beautiful countryside. The habour was reefed by 4 World War II battleships, scuttled after the war.  Pete and Hele fell asleep on the lookout over the harbour in the warm afternoon sun.

We also did some walking and went in search of Black Bears, which are everywhere, even around the camp site. We had to make a hasty retreat back to the car when one got a little curious.  We also saw a black tailed deer.

 Black Bearstocking up on berries