Whale
/ Eagle
/ Bear Watching:
Southern British Columbia is
one of the premier areas in the world for Whale Watching. For a
large part of the year this applies to the Killer Whale, but tour
companies only operate during the late spring to early fall time
period. Vancouver Aquarium was the first facility to have these
in captivity, but with the departure of its last Killer Whale to
San Diego's Sea World in Spring 2001 (where it died shortly after), it was also the first to
decide against maintaining the practice. It did serve, however to
raise the publics consciousness to the plight of the species and
change public perceptions about their name. The facility was
never big on using the animals in the sideshow type fashion, so popular in the States. They concentrated mainly on
research, and
demonstrating the animals natural behaviour to the public. Unlike
nearly all other facilities, they were not used in some sort of
Aquatic Rodeo. In late winter/early spring, it is also possible
to view the migration of grey whales down the West Coast of
Vancouver Island.
To Whale watch, most visitors
tend to go to Vancouver Island. Many operators are based out of
Victoria. There is a considerable amount of regulation being
placed on this activity. Its popularity is disturbing the natural
activity of the whales and the government is trying to find a way
to accommodate this growing tourist industry with the needs of
the animals.
It is now possible to take a
Whale Watching tour from Vancouver. 2 Companies offer this.
1) Vancouver Whale Watch
operates out of the historic fishing village of Steveston,
located at the SW corner of Richmond. The address is #210-12240
2nd Ave, Steveston, BC V7E 3L8. They also have a kiosk on
fisherman's wharf in Steveston. Their phone number is
604-274-9565. You can also book a day trip to Steveston including
Whale Watching with pickup at downtown hotels by calling
1-877-473-7669 (May-Oct). See the web site link in the table
below. They guarantee you will see whales or the next trip is
free. This may not help if you have a fixed schedule, but their
site claims a high success rate, and I guess if it it didn't, they
would lose a lot a money making that guarantee. They also
do nature tours around the Fraser River Estuary. In any event the
town of Steveston is well worth a visit in and of itself. Plan on
spending some time there.
2) Seabreeze Adventures also operate out of Steveston. See the link in the table below. In any event the town of Steveston is well worth a visit in and of itself. Plan on
spending some time there.
Bear
Watching:
There are several companies that specialize in this. For example: Ecotours, Grizzly tours, BC Grizzly tours
Bald
Eagle
Watching:
B.C. has the world's largest concentration of
Bald Eagles. Sorry America, we have kidnapped your national symbol. They can often be seen around Vancouver, especially in The White Rock
Area or around Burns Bog off Highway 91. The best place to view them is at
Brackendale, near Squamish on the road to Whistler. There is a large reserve
there, easily accessible from the Hwy 99, the road to Whistler. During late fall
& winter (Late October through February) they gather in the thousands to feed on
Salmon in the local rivers. They can also be seen in the Mission are of the
Fraser Valley. Check out this link: Eagles. That site
contains a map of how to get to the viewing sites near Brackendale. Also in the
Whistler area Elaho Adventures offers
tours to see them.
