We traveled from Campbell River to Port McNeill to start our BC Broughton Archipelago season. This year a group of repeat guests chartered the whole boat and the trip was one great, warm, wonderful family reunion, even for us, as the guests seemed to be part of our extended family.
Once again, Lillian joined us for our First Nations Cultural tour and this is always a very popular tour. Lillian’s infectious, warm personality creates a wonderful ambience. . . and the wildlife seems to be attracted to her in all the best ways!
It is always a special honour when guests from especially far away travel to join us. Here an extended family from Hong Kong joined us for a charter and we all laughed so much our sides hurt. AND! we learned some terrific new card games as well!
The Broughton Archipelago is were we go to hopefully see Orcas and this year was wonderful again. We had many wonderful sightings and our regular photo gallery has some great shots. I like this first one as it gives a taste of the thrill of having the Orcas near at hand.
It is impossible not to be inspired by the Orcas of the British Columbia coast, but just as impossible not to be concerned for them as well. The wild salmon stocks were very low this year and the killer whales were visibly agitated in their search for their primary food source. We are all hoping for a substantial improvement of the salmon stocks next year for the sake of every living thing on the BC coast.
Bill and Donna joined us for two tours last year and then returned this year with friends from California. Thankfully we didn’t burn the toast, the sun shone perfectly and the whales were on their best behaviour.
Garth, from the “In Flight Review” magazine joined us for a tour. We received a nice write up in the Helijet Airlines magazine. You can see the article on our “In the Press” page of the main website.
A father and daughter joined us from the eastern states. A great chance to connect and for us to bask in their friendship.
A humming bird? A paddler who is hard on equipment? No, just Bob from Ontario . . . who has chartered the whole boat for a week in 2009 for a group of friends.
One of the coast’s strongest and most diligent advocates for the preservation of the wild salmon stocks is the renowned biologist, Alexandra Morton. Although she is very busy in the summer with her research at the Salmon Coast Research Station, we can occasionally arrange for a meeting with her. One group we had was especially keen to meet Alex and fortunately she was able to fit us into her schedule.
Our family operates the Columbia III for almost 5 months straight each summer. In an effort to give us some flexibility and a little time off, we were very happy to have our family friend, Steve Schellenberg, join us as a guide. We hope we are lucky enough to have him along on some trips in 2009 too!
We are always on the lookout for birthdays and annniversaries . . . Here is one guest with a “wee” celebration aboard the Columbia III.
We ARE a small family operation and sisters, even a Lead Guide and a Skipper don’t always behave!
