December 2002 / January 2003
Its Christmas, New Years and Snow Season! What an
absolute blast! We had over 140 cm's of snow last week. The Bears' Den Lodge is
open and filling up quickly. The 2003 season is already 75% booked!
When not schussing down the slopes we have been
busy working on tours and projects for summer 2003. Look for:
1. Kayak the West Coast Trail - 3 day lodge-based,
mothership paddling tour. This year we stay in small groups in a large
waterfront house in the small waterfront hamlet of Bamfield. This was simply an
amazing tour last year and demand is strong for this year already. We have
weekly departures on Friday mornings from Victoria.
2. Encircle the Elders - An exciting evening of
West Coast Native dances, songs and legends from various cultural groups. First
performance is February 21st. at Spectrum Auditorium.
3. Walking and Hiking Tours in Strathcona Park
using the Bears Den Lodge as a base. 3-5 day trips including all meals, guides,
lodge accommmodation and transportation. Self-guided and self-catered options
available.
Rainforest Hiking in December? Sea Kayaking in
January?
Absolutely!! If you call us we go! Some clients
have called for some "Winter Rainfrorest Hiking" and "Coastal Rainforest
Storm-Watching" tours and we have had a blast. The warm weather has helped but a
little rain doesn't scare us anyway. More and more we are becoming a year-round
operation. So when are we gonna have vacations then ??
Call for winter Rainforest Hikes, Sea-Kayaking, and
Storm-Watching day trips from Victoria.
Trek of the Real Big Trees
I just returned from 3 weeks of hiking in the
National Parks in the Sierra Nevadas, Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon National
Park.
Okay okay I admit it! The Sequoia Trees in Yosemite
and Sequoia National Parks are gigantic and dwarf some of our largest cedar, fir
and spruce. But our unique species still tower and look amazing the way they
meet the ocean.
For those this summer who made recommendations
about the area - Thank you!
- Jeff
July / August 2002
Wildlife sightings for 2002 (so far!)
On our various rainforest hiking day trips from Victoria we have seen:
Black Bear, Cougar, Mule Deer, Elk, River Otter, Mink, Brush Rabbit, Raccoon,
Harbour Seal, California Sea Lion, Stellar Sea Lion, Killer Whale, Grey Whale, Elephant Seal, Bald Eagle, Screech Owl, Turkey Vulture, numerous forest birds, amphibians, and shorebirds.
Still looking for Porpoise, Gray wolf, Sea otter, and Humpback/Minke whales.
Island Adventure Tours is in the Movies!
Island Adventure Tours was featured in a local Channel 11 Program about the Sooke area and hiking at East Sooke Wilderness Park.
Island Adventure Tours and the Le-La-La Dancers are coordinating the participation of 9 dancers, 2 war canoes and 8 paddlers in the production of a feature film in Bamfield in September. The production has a native culture theme and will be filmed with the Broken Islands and coastal rainforests as the background. Should be a week of fun, excitement and hard work as well.
Island Adventure Tours is hosting a film production crew from "Awesome Adventures". This program has been on the air for five years in over 120 cities across the United States. It is a half hour weekly magazine style show which highlights the most exciting
adventures throughout the world. Alaska, Malaysia, Switzerland, Iceland,
and Costa Rica are among the place the show has visited.
The shows are designed to entertain as well as educate the audience about
the places the hosts are visiting and the activities they are doing. It's a family
oriented series with an audience of approximately 750,000 people each week.
We are excited to host this crew and show them our amazing island!
The crew host will be visiting Vancouver Island the first week in September.
Island Adventure Tours Launches an Operation at Mt. Washington!
Island Adventure Tours will be offering a full-compliment of exciting outdoor adventures this winter at Mt. Washington. Snowshoeing, X-C skiing, lugeing, and backcountry skiing will be offered from a base in the Mt. Washington Village. We will be offering Winter Adventure Packages for individuals and groups as well as half-day guided trips departing daily from the village.
No noisy snowmobiles though!
Great outdoor activities and superb lodge comfort in the evening.
May / June 2002
Kayak the West Coast Trail
Just returned from pioneering our newest tour on Vancouver Island and it was a blast!
Attention all kayakers! This tour is incredible. We have partnered with the Tyee Lodge in Bamfield to offer what is truly an amazing experience. You can read about the tour on the "Ocean Adventures " page of our website. But let me tell you about this rocking and rolling adventure!
Day 1
We drive from Victoria and arrive in the magical town of Bamfield and transport across the bay to the Tyee Lodge. First-class waterfront accommodation with one of the best views on Vancouver Island. Hot-tubs and great food await but only after we do a warm-up paddle in the harbour. Our guide knows the local waters but doesn't know us and wants to check out our paddling skills. I am accompanied by Rick Hudson, journalist and 2 photographers. We are all experienced paddlers but appreciate the warm-up paddle to get used to the boats we will be using for the next two days. The warm-up paddle turns out to be a wildlife excursion. We see osprey, eagles, seals, otters and bear-tracks on the beach. We stor our kayaks up on a beach and hike through the forest to the outside coast. Here we hike along the shore from beach to beach. The only people we see are three local teenage boys and their dog skim-boarding in the surf. A great way to warm-up and acclimatize to the wild west coast. We head back to the lodge for a BBQ, hot-tub and then some flaming volcanoes in the Tyee Cantina.
Day 2
We rise at 5:30 a.m. in order to catch the calmest (and most beautiful) part of the day. Our boat is loaded with kayaks and gear and we head out of the harbour at 6 .am.. We round Cape Beale and make our way down the West Coast Trail. We unload at Tusiat Falls in 3 meter swells. We are rocking and rolling but no one goes over. We paddle along the West Coast Trail at a rate of 4 miles per hour. At this rate we could do half of the West Coast Trail in one day. We can't land anywhere along the shore as the swells are too big but we can get close to the falls and various, sea stacks and sea arches. After 2. 5hours of paddling we load back into the boat and head over to another spot along the trail. We arrive back at the lodge at around 3 p.m. and take a well-deserved nap. Spectacular paddling with many whale sightings!
Day 3
Today we depart at 8 a.m. and head over to the Deer Group Islands. We spend the day paddling through caves and exploring the Deer Group Islands. We all agree that we like the paddling here better than the Broken Islands (and no crowds too!). We stop at a beach for lunch. It starts raining and we duck into a cave for a dry lunch. We paddle back to the lodge in Bamfield and arrive back at around 3 p.m.. We say our farewells and get a boat ride over to the mainland side of Bamfield and drive 3.5 hours back to Victoria.
Why is this trip so awesome?
Boat transport to the best spots for paddling depending on the weather. Great comfortable lodge accommodation. Liz and John of the Tyee Lodge make everything seamless and perfect. Unrivaled scenery! Flaming Volcanoes!
The idea of this trip is to Kayak the West Coast Trail. As this is the wide open pacific we have to wait for daily weather and then make plans for the day based on wind and tides.
The big luxury here is having the fast kayak transport boat that can take us to the best spots that would normally be unreachable by kayak alone.
This was a first for Island Adventure Tours and the Tyee lodge. This pioneering trip was a complete success (except for one burnt lip). We are now offering this tour as a 3-day 2 night package (see Ocean Adventures). Be one of the first to Kayak the West Coast Trail.
Thanks, Rick, Philipa, Todd, Greg and the Tyee Lodge for a memorable weekend and I can hardly wait for the next trip!
Melanie is from
Gottingen, Germany and has a background in Geography. She is here as a Student Intern to help out in all areas of IAT operations. Melanie will also work on marketing initiatives and other programs with our German partners.
Mitsumi is from Osaka Japan and is here to work as an intern for
1 month. We have had her out hiking and sea kayaking and she is a real trooper.
She has talent in web design and she has completely rebuilt our Japanese web
site: 
IAT has some exciting news! The Bears' Den Lodge will open on December 1, 2002! 
It was a lot of work but we have now completed our downtown tourist accommodation, the Parkside Guest House. Please visit the house at 
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