bicrom abroad

after a slightly underwhelming initial few days on the east coast of canadia our first impressions of british columbia gave us some more cause for concern. from the socially incapable woman at the hertz counter to the tacky neon clonetown lights of the victoria strip, vancouver island by night did not appear to offer much by way of charm. within half an hour of setting off in flic the focus on wednesday morning however the island began to come into its own, as we swooped northwards down tree flanked roads. after a few pleasant hours on the road we passed campbell river, the gateway to the north of the island, to find the three lane highways and starbucks' replaced by narrow single tracks ensconced in all year round christmas trees. having passed numerous signs warning us of impending elk, yet sadly no actual elk, we arrived in the tiny oceanside community of port mcneill and took stock. vancouver island was beginning to impress, the clear pacific waters prefacing still snowcapped peaks in the distance.
our main motivation for heading to the north of the island was to try and glimpse some of its less domesticated residents, namely grizzly bears rooting for salmon and killer whales menacing the coastlines. we knew we were due a bit of bad luck with wildlife watching, given that we had been so fortunate with the leatherback turtle in french guyana and the orangutangs in sumatra. seeing bears in the wilds of british columbia however appeared to be something we could feel relatively confident about. when i had mentioned to some of my canadian colleagues that we were going on a bear watching tour they had openly scoffed at me and told me to save my money, pack a lunch and sit in the car by the side of any of the roads for a couple of hours. undeterred, and filled with silent hope of watching a grizzly munch down on salmon, we had paid the (exorbitant) fee and as such set off in our small boat at 7am full of hope.
the journey to glendale cove was incredibly beautiful, chugging through the still, iridiscent waters of knight inlet reflecting the small mountainous islands dotted throughout the strait whilst thin shafts of bright sunlight illuminated the gentle mist settling atop the peaks. having transferred to a small skiff we bobbed down an alarmingly shallow river and waited for bear o'clock. and waited. and then waited some more. the setting was stunning and we saw a few massive eagles flying around, including getting within metres of one gnawing at a salmon in the stream, but bears were conspicuous by their absence. it was particularly frustrating because, having paid so much for the tour, the guides seemed to have absolutely zero idea as to what to do in the absence of bears. yes wildlife watching is fraught with uncertainty but it really felt that we would have had just as much luck under our own steam, loitering in hopeful expectation by some roadside.
when all hope looked like it was lost vicki made a pact with a higher being in which she did not think she believed and, absurdly, her aethist prayers were answered. one grizzly came strolling along the river bank, had a sniff in the water, acknowledged us with an inquisitive shake of the muzzle as it passed within 20 metres of our skiff and ambled along the river. and that was it. an amazing creature but, sadly, a slightly disappointing first day of animal watching (and what price for vicki that momentary glimpse?)
everything would surely be redeemed the next morning, as we clambered aboard another boat to go and see killer whales. we had actually briefly seen a pod of these leviathans on the way back from our bear encounter (albeit had not stopped to have a proper look as the bear tour company clearly did not want to step on the toes of their whale watching neigbours) and knew that there was a large group hanging around off one of the nearby beaches, a collective so reliably local that they were officially titled resident orcas. such titles are of course meant to be crushingly deceiving and, sure enough, this was the one day they decided to take a little day trip south and, consequently, went outside of our range. we saw a couple of lazy humpbacks not interested in showing their size or their tails and, as always, sea lions and dolphins but the trip had been all about the killer whales and not seeing them battered our traveller souls a little.
all in all then vancouver island proved to be a bit of a mixed bag. visually absolutely stunning, we loved the road trip angle of our visit, speeding down windy roads with glorious mountain and lake vistas on either side. if we had no plans to see wildlife the trip would have been an unmitigated success in its own right, with the natural beauty on display more than  sufficient to render our time there a success. but we went with animals on the mind and, having failed to see them and consequently wasted a lot of time and money in our efforts, our time on island has to go down as a bit of a flush, albeit an incredibly scenic one. vancouver and new york to follow; very different but big cities are typically consistent at least.