My Summer Road Trip - Part 2

My Summer Road-trip - part 2 

(it still is going to get more exciting as days go on, trust me)

note: pictures are taken with mom's phone, my little camera, and mom's camera... feel free to click on images to see them larger. 

Hello Everyone... 

Welcome to the next day of my road trip. Previous post ended in Campbell River where we stayed the night at. Here is our driving route from Victoria to Campbell River on Vancouver Island, B.C. 

Mom and I had to get up early as we were meeting our friend Nick with Campbell River Whale and Bear Excursions to go out on his boat for the day (or depending on how I do). So, we met Nick at his office so mom and I could get our antarctic suits before following Nick to the launch ramp. His set up is really spiffy. Not the greatest pic, but it will do.

I am sitting here in a seat on the boat waiting for mom and Nick to put my stroller in. 

Since it is an open boat, Nick and mom decided to put me in my stroller to help protect me from the elements, and is easy to get me out of fast in case of the rare emergency. I had to dress in layers and clothes as if I was going to the antarctic. It can be very cold here, and this morning was chilly.

Nick has these really cool life jackets that are perfect for me. Not bulky and pretty stylish. You can see the blue part of it in the photo of me in my stroller just above here, but a better one will be later in this posting. I will point it out.  

It was a gorgeous morning. We left the dock about 9a.m. in search of bears, Orcas and my friends cousins; Pacific White Sided Dolphins. Dall's Porpoise are even a possibility as well as Humpback Whales. 

No local reports yet, but reports of Northern Resident Orcas were in the northern area of Johnstone Strait. Do we really want to go that far. Well, we headed north starting in Discovery Passage towards the area near Thurlow and Sonora Island, going through some very cool rapids. It was so cold, but I was toasty warm. 

We saw some adorable Harbour Seals hauled out on the rocks. 

Nick and the other two people that came with us were looking hard for Orcas, but especially bears since we were in an area to see them. It was a little early in the season, but you just never know. :) 

Then Nick decided to check out this cove that they usually see bears in, and sure enough, at the point of the cove, there was a mother Black Bear with her 3 cubs in the far distance. Here is a photo mom cropped, so it is not the greatest due to them being so far, but at least it shows ya what we saw. :)

Somewhere in that area we found some Pacific White Sided Dolphins. By that time, I was sitting in mom's lap to get a good view of the dolphins and look around, but that also means mom didn't get very many shots of the dolphins. Opps. 

I really wasn't crazy about sitting in my stroller, but it was cool to watch out towards the back of the boat, plus I got to sit right behind Nick's driving station. 

As we were making our way through this channel, we saw some large Stellar Sea Lions munching on large fish in these whirlpools and strong currents. There were some eagles in the trees, probably waiting for the scraps. 

We then decided to head south taking a break at Stuart Island, B.C. Nick heard a report of Transient Orcas down south near Powell River, which is south of Campbell River where we started. :)

Stuart Island, B.C.

On our way down to Powell River, we stopped off somewhere along the B.C. mainland for gas. Mom was so turned around, lost.  So we got some gas and off we went heading down to Powell River looking for Orcas. 

Me taking a snooze on our way south. See the blue life jacket. You pull a string to inflate it. :) 

Stopping for gas...

We got down to Powell River, asked a fisherman if he'd seen them. He said something about north of where he was. So we turned and headed north. 

We found them! Yay! There was a group of 3 just cruising around this gorgeous area. 

It was really warm out, so mom took my jacket off and let me sit in one of the boat seats. Well, I actually insisted. This is just the beginning of me wanting to do what everyone else does. That was so cool. I loved it. And mom had to let me take in a little breeze since Nick was going semi fast for just a few yards. Oh and you can see the life jacket even better now.. :) 

Orcas just traveling around looking for their next meal. Not the easiest Orcas to watch as Transients can do a lot of zig-zagging and long dive times coming up anywhere. We spent some time with them before heading back to Campbell River. 

On our way back, we saw a Humpback Whale just cruising around. It must of been a cruising kind of day. :) 

It was so late by the time we got back. I think it was close to 6p.m. and mom and I still had to drive north to Port McNeil. This was not the plan to get in that late, but we were all having such a wonderful time and wanted to see the Orcas, so. 

We got back to the dock, unloaded, and got settled in the car. I'm loving the 2 1/2 hour drive up to Port McNeil. Mickey and Cubby hanging out with me listening to my teenager music! :)

The road to Port McNeil. We will be staying here for several nights. :) 

Can't wait to get to the next couple of days, but for now, I will end this post here.. 

Love,

Kayla

P.S.

Mom took me to Disneyland for Mickey's Halloween Party - post coming soon.. :)