Photo of the Month - July 2010

Ahhh, summer. It even comes to the rainforest. Here we're enjoying a west coast sunset while cruising, awaiting the sun's dip below the horizon. Taken on a Great Bear Rainforest trip in June by Kevin Smith.

Photo of the Month - June 2010

On a Haida Gwaii tour, at the southernmost point of the islands, this 6-year-old enjoys a beautiful beach on her family adventure vacation aboard the Maple Leaf. 3 generations of her family chartered an entire Haida Gwaii adventure, and spent the week wildlife viewing, visiting village sites and beachcombing in this amazing archipelago. Photo by Maple Leaf guest Greg Patrick.

Photo of the Month - May 2010

This beautiful photo by first mate Paul Smith shows a grizzly sow in her autumn world: a brilliant green and gold estuary, where a small river lets salmon penetrate the rainforest after a journey up a coastal fjord. In the company of gulls, ravens, eagles and a host of other creatures, she'll spend almost every day in this spot in all kinds of weather. Some years, she'll have a cub or two with her. Some years, she'll be on her own. Taken on a Great Bear Rainforest tour.

Photo of the Month - April 2010

Adventure photography: Maple Leaf guests and first mate Jose Larochelle, who took this photo, go out in a zodiac for a view and photos of the Maple Leaf under sail on the B.C. coast. Taken on a Great Bear Rainforest tour.

Photo of the Month - March 2010

The Great Bear Rainforest - guest Doug Watterson captured some of its majesty with this photograph. This giant is a cedar, nicknamed the "tree of life" by some, since it traditionally provided people of the coast with so many of life's fundamentals: fibre for weaving and rope, planks for houses, wood for canoes, boxes, poles and so much more. It's framed by the lacy branches of a young hemlock tree, and the waxy leaves of salal. Taken on a Great Bear Rainforest tour.

Photo of the Month - February 2010

While sailing in northern Georgia Strait last April, the Maple Leaf suddenly found itself accompanied by 7 transient killer whales (orcas). While the captain chatted with whale researcher Graeme Ellis, First Mate Jose Larochelle captured this stunning photo. It was taken on the Vancouver Island portion of the spring Great Bear Rainforest - Kitlope Supervoyage.

Photo of the Month - January 2010

Maple Leaf guest Cathy Holowaychuk caught the beauty of a humpback whale's breath against the rainforest of the Broughton Archipelago. The light hit both the exhalation and the wing of a seagull, igniting them against the shadowed island. Taken on a Whales & Totems trip in October.

Photo of the Month - December 2009

Burial poles, SGang Gwaay, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands). To celebrate the BC government's offical intention to rename the islands to Haida Gwaii (Islands of the Haida [people]), and because this photo by Kevin conveys some of the power of Haida carving, we've chosen this as our photo of the month. Taken by Kevin Smith at UN World Heritage Site SGang Gwaay (Ninstints) on a Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) trip in May.

Photo of the Month - November 2009

Sunlight and shadow pick out Maple Leaf guests in red kayaks, and the distant Maple Leaf herself, against granite cliffs. Taken in the Fjordland area of the Great Bear Rainforest, by Paul Smith on a Great Bear Rainforest trip.

Photo of the Month - October 2009

A grizzly bear mother scans the river for the right salmon to catch while her cub-of-the-year rests its head. Taken by Paul Smith on a Great Bear Rainforest trip.

Photo of the Month - September 2009

Ah... those incomperable west coast beaches. This one is in remote northwestern Vancouver Island, in one of Capt. Kevin Smith's favourite places. Taken by Kevin on the Vancouver Island Wild Side trip in June 2009.

Photo of the Month - August 2009

"Reflections on the bowsprit" by Maple Leaf guest Susan Goldsworthy. Taken on an Alaska Adventure in June 2009.

Photo of the Month - July 2009

So much water enriches the Great Bear Rainforest, and it is still so natural, that huge waterfalls like this one spill down the walls of fjords ... and yet the falls have no names. This photo of Maple Leaf in front of one of our favourites was taken in September 2008 in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest by Kevin Smith.

Photo of the Month - June 2009

The warm sandstone whorls of the Gulf Islands, BC. Taken by Maple Leaf guest Thomas Kerr, while he was on a Tall Sails and Ales trip in the Gulf Islands, Oct. 2007.

Photo of the Month - May 2009

The Maple Leaf cuts a path through an ocean turned to rose-gold by sunrise. Photo taken on a Great Bear Rainforest trip by Capt. Kevin Smith.

Photo of the Month - April 2009

An adult bald eagle, gliding overhead, sun shining through rows of feathers. Photo taken on an Alaska Adventure cruise by Maple Leaf guests Diane Boisvert / JoAnn Scott.

Photo of the Month - March 2009

Summer beachcombing, in a remote northwestern Vancouver Island location. Note the eelgrass in the water ... important habitat for 70 species of fish on the coast! Photo taken on the Vancouver Island Wild Side trip, by Capt. Kevin Smith.

Photo of the Month - February 2009

Resident orcas returning to coastal waters, June in Alaska. Photo by Maureen Gordon, crew on the Maple Leaf.

Photo of the Month - January 2009

Marine life is so rich in the Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii. Here, a purple bat star rests on a red leather star. The abundance starts with upwelling of nutrients from the deep Pacific, feeding small organisms that in turn feed progressively larger animals... up to the size of humpback and fin whales. Photo by Chantelle Tucker from a May trip on Maple Leaf (orcagirl.com).

Photo of the Month - December 2008

Evening lights the world from below, as Maple Leaf sails for her anchorage towing her two expedition shore boats. Southeast Alaska, June. Photo by Paul Smith.

Photo of the Month - November 2008

The crenelated peaks of the Brooks Peninsula mountains signal wild territory on popular Vancouver Island. Presumably unglaciated during the last ice age and jutting west into the Pacific, almost to the continental shelf, the Peninsula is a rugged barrier few cross ... but the beaches, islands and wildlife are spectacular. Photo by Kevin Smith.

Photo of the Month - October 2008

Spirit bear fishing for salmon in the Great Bear Rainforest, on a September Great Bear trip. Photo by Kevin Smith.

Photo of the Month - September 2008

Guests and crew furling the sails, springtime in the Gulf Islands trip, B.C. Photo by Kevin Smith.

Photo of the Month - August 2008

Viewing Haida mortuary and memorial poles at UN World Heritage Site SGang Gwaay (Nintsints). Note the pole in the book in this photograph. Photo by Kevin J. Smith, on a Haida Gwaii / Queen Charlotte Islands trip.

Photo of the Month - July 2008

A tufted puffin seeks a nest site on a very special island in Alaska. Photo by Kevin J. Smith, on an Alaska Adventure trip in June.

Photo of the Month - June 2008

An offshore orca (killer whale) breahes near Alert Bay, B.C. on the Whales & Totems trip. Photo by Maple Leaf guest Gervais Goodman.

Photo of the Month - May 2008

A moody sunset in the Boughton Archipelago lights the world with a palette of gold. Photo by Kevin Smith.

Photo of the Month - April 2008

Maple Leaf under sail, with her crew only, in front of fabled Triangle Island en route to the "Wild Side" trip. Photo by Greg Shea, who was First Mate on the trip and is also a professional nature photographer.

Photo of the Month - March 2008

View looking down an Alaskan fjord from the face of a glacier, past ice bergs to the waiting schooner Maple Leaf. Photo by Maple Leaf captain Kevin Smith, taken from a zodiac on an Alaska trip in 2006

Photo of the Month - February 2008

Grizzly bear sow and cub in the Great Bear Rainforest, photo by Maple Leaf guest Carolle Petit

Photo of the Month - January 2008

Humpback whale using its huge tail to capture krill or small fish, with Maple Leaf in the background, Haida Gwaii, by Anne Usher

Photo of the Month - December 2007

Sea lions checking out a view of Maple Leaf, Tall Sails and Ales trip in the Gulf Islands, BC, by Thomas Kerr

Photo of the Month - November 2007

October Sunset, Broughton Archipelago Whales & Totems trip, by Kevin Smith