My final photo tour of the year took me back to Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest. This is a challenging location for photography, so it’s pretty cool when I’m joined by clients who are willing to take on the challenge and accept whatever this region of British Columbia presents. Every trip here is different, but one thing we can usually rely on is the rain. And we had our fair share this time.
Nonetheless, my group put in the time and effort, sitting in a Zodiac for several days in a downpour, and eventually we were rewarded with one of the best spirit bear encounters I’ve ever had. We were also treated to the best black bear photo ops I’ve ever enjoyed in this area. Plus, we had grizzly bears, humpback whales, sea otters and other wildlife sightings throughout the week. It was a fun trip with a wonderful group of photographers!
I’ve published a gallery of 99 new images from this trip, which you may view here. A short preview is below.
This black bear sow and cub put on a great show for us as they foraged for salmon along the shore.
The cub looked round, cute and well-fed.
This grizzly was resting on the other side of a small stream… it took us a while to even notice him, but he paid us no heed.
The spirit bear, a white phase black bear found only in this part of the world, is one of the main reasons people come to the Great Bear Rainforest. However, the number of white bears is small, so they can be difficult to find.
After four days of searching we were rewarded with a wonderful, prolonged encounter with this spirit bear.
Harbor seals are a common sight. Harbor seals taking a bubble bath are not!
A Steller sea lion catches a salmon.
Our home for the week, the Great Bear II, under a rainbow.
We were fortunate to have a close encounter with this sea otter on the last day of the trip.
After several days of rain, the sun finally broke through toward the end of our trip.
View the full Great Bear Rainforest 2017 gallery here. And remember that you can order prints of nearly any image in my photo archive!
If you are interested in joining me on a future Great Bear Rainforest tour, I am currently accepting waiting list requests for the 2019 trip (which is currently full). Otherwise, I may be offering one or two trips in 2020.
