my wife made me ask.

Captains Cat · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:36 pm Post subject:

Neat Bear Pix. Must have been really cool watching them try to back down that ladder once having reached the top. Or maybe they're still up there?

Charlie

Bess-C · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:11 pm Post subject:

Okay, I'll jump in on this one, because I thought I was going to find out the answer to your question last week.

We were anchored out in a cove on the west coast of Vancouver Island last week. There are lots of black bears on Vancouver Island. In fact I think it is black bear heaven. I've never seen as many black bears anywhere else. The first evening that we were there, we saw a large black bear feeding on berries near a camping area on shore. There was also a small bear that the larger fellow chased up a tree. They were about 1/4 mile away, and we enjoyed watching them through binoculars until dark. Late afternoon on the following day, I saw the large bear coming around the cove towards where our boat was anchored. He swam through several small bodies of water instead of going around them. He looked more comfortable in the water than a black labrador. When he got down wind of our boat he started sniffing and swam out a few yards towards us (we were approximately 30 yards away from him). For whatever reason, he decided we didn't smell good enough and he turned around and went back.

I think it was fortunate that we hadn't just caught and cleaned fish. We had our garbage sealed in plastic and inside the boat. All of our food was in a closed cooler in the cockpit.

I didn't sleep well that night. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with a 350 lb bear in the cockpit during the middle of the night. It was Canada so you can't carry a gun. I had bear spray and an air horn. Fortunately I didn't have to find out if they would get him to leave. Even if I had scared him out of the cockpit, it would have been like chasing off a sumo wrestler with fangs and claws. He probably could have done a lot of damage to the equipment even if we were safe.

A long winded story just to say that bears can swim really well. If in bear country, don't leave garbage or food lying around and clean up after fishing.
Lyle

Paul Friis · Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:42 pm Post subject: Bears can and do swim!

I live in Crofton on Vancouver Island, but I grew up on the Northern end of the Island. There are only black bears on Vancouver Island - no Grizzly bears. A couple of years ago a Grizzly bear was seen walking through Port Hardy. It was mean and hungry and before it could do anyone some harm, one of the resident natives shot it. How did it get to the Island? The thinking is it must have swam from the BC Mainland, Island hopping all the way.

I have to admit that bare sightings are quite frequent down here in the Gulf Islands!

Paul

starcrafttom · Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:27 am Post subject:

I really enjoyed your post and i most say that wee have both seen lots of black bears in the sierras where we are from. My wife has even been to alaska several times with her dad and seen grizzlies. We both know about what to do and what not to do in bear country and have ran black bears out of camp more then once. I told my wife about a picture i saw a few years ago. It was of a black bear swimming around a couple of fishing boats on lake tahoe in the seventys. A few days later she has a dream about a bear climbing into the c-dory we don't even own yet and i have to ask silly questions. don't you just love marriage.

Paul Friis · Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:14 am Post subject: my wife made me ask

Good morning,

I had an interesting encounter with a black bear when I was a teenager. I had been hired on as a deckhand on a 40' fish packer. Our first trip was from Quatsino to Vancouver, going around Cape Scott. For the first leg we went as far as Sea Otter Cove. That night a storm hit us and we were stuck there for three days. On the third day we went ashore to stretch our legs and walk the beaches. I rounded an outcrop of rocks and came face to face with Barney the Bear. I'm not sure who was more startled! The bear took off up the side hill like a rocket sled. I went back to the boat and changed my pants!

I sold my Albin 25 in January and have been "boatless" for several months now. I will be retiring in a couple of years and hope to buy a C-Dory 16 cruiser at that time - unless a good used one shows up in our area. There was a C-Dory 16 Angler for sale last month, but I want the cruiser model. What size are you looking for?

Paul

Catman · Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 4:39 pm Post subject:

Bess-C Lyle, I need to know more about your west Vancouver Island cruise. When will you next be Braterizing? Sequim, perhaps?

Bess-C · Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:18 am Post subject:

Hi Brock,
We're going to try for Sequim. It sounds like a good time, but we have a scheduling conflict that we have to resolve. I hope we see you there. I think there's a Vancouver Island thread here I can revive to discuss our trip.
Lyle