Trip Reports from the Haida Gwaii tours

View over the bowsprit, Haida Gwaii. Photo by James Warburton.

Both of Maple Leaf’s ships are operating in Haida Gwaii right now since May and June are the best times to be there!

The trips are staggered, so each ship is in a different part of Gwaii Haanas at different times.

Here are some highlights reported by the ships from their trips:

Humpback whale, flick feeding in Gwaii Haanas. Photo by James Warburton.

Not surprisingly, there have been amazing whales. Dozens of humpback whales, some orcas (killer whales) and even a “sociable” minke whale.

A bonus has been the sunny, relatively calm weather. As a result, we talked to Captain Russell as the Passing Cloud was rounding Cape St. James – a seabird and sea lion colony.

Cape St. James, in Haida Gwaii, on a flat-calm day. Photo by James Warburton.

This southernmost tip of Haida Gwaii, at the meeting point of the Pacific ocean, Queen Charlotte Sound and Hecate Strait, can be one of the roughest bodies of water on the coast. So to cruise around it while it’s flat calm, and then sail up the west coast of Kunghit Island in the long northern sunset, in the company of albatross, is very special.

Cape St. James, on the southern tip of Kunghit Island, Haida Gwaii

Happy World Oceans Day! We celebrate the abundance of marine life in Haida Gwaii and are thankful that Gwaii Haanas is protected from the mountain tops to ocean bottom — unique in the world!

From reports by Capt. Greg on the SV Maple Leaf and Capt. Russell on the SV Passing Cloud.

View more information about our Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) tours.