God made northern Vancouver Island, and said "It is PERFECTION".

A Dall's Porpoise bow-running with a fishing vessel as we were headed up
to Knight Inlet to observe grizzlies in Glendale Cove.  We saw these playful critters several times when we were out in the sound, and man are they quick!  

Dad and I hiked to San Josef Bay, as we had been told the hike was absolutely stunning.  We hiked through the woods on a lovely trail, with sunlight peeking through the tree tops above us.  As we hiked, the trail would occasionally leave the forest and wander through some wetlands...quite marshy, with the tide about to come in.  We had NO clue that when we cleared the forest, we would be rewarded with this view of San Josef Bay!!  It was every bit as stunning as we had been told, and then some!  What you see when looking past the land is the Pacific Ocean, on the western side of the Island.  

Dad posing on one of the bridges on the trail to San Josef Bay.

Driving up to go hiking in Cape Scott Park, we spotted this little guy up a telephone pole.  As black bears are excellent climbers, we knew he would be able to get down just fine.  Below, and out of sight before I could focus my camera on her, was Mama Bear, bellowing at Junior to stop fooling around and come down this instant!

At Glendale Cove, we had the pleasure of observing grizzlies from quite a close distance.  This is Bella, with one of her C.O.Y.'s (cub-of-year).  Bella had triplets this year, and they were very happy searching the beach with Mama in search of food.  Since the salmon have not yet arrived, the bears turn over rocks looking for eels, and they eat sedge grass.

Two of Bella's cubs.  

When our boat tied up at the floating dock, Roll and Peanut were the first two bears there to greet us.  Roll is the Mama bear, and Peanut is her 2-yr-old male cub (the blonder of the two bears).  Peanut, even at age 2, is just about as big as Roll (who got her name due to the vigor with which she would roll rocks looking for food).

The view we had from our camp site was AMAZING!  Our site was a shrub's-width from the beach, which means we got to hear waves lapping up on the sand, got to watch the silhouettes of Great Blue herons fishing every night after the sun went down, and got to inhale the wonderful aroma of salt air.  It was by far the most perfect camp site I have ever had the honor of calling my temporary home.

If you turned your head a little to the right when looking at the sunset, this is the view you were awarded.  Across the strait is the village of Alert Bay, on Cormorant Island.  The sun was just starting to set, and the lights of the village were beginning to come on, one at a time.