I counted at least 50, but it was hard to tell with all the commotion. I grabbed my binoculars for a better look. No wonder they're called the clowns of the ocean. When I finally looked up and saw the jumbled mass, all bobbing on their backs, webbed paws sticking out of the water, I laughed out loud. I was so bedazzled by the lime-green and pink-tipped sea anemones in a rocky pool that I didn't immediately notice the raft of sea otters that had congregated in the kelp about 50 m (164 ft) offshore. Prepared our first night's dinner over a campfire on Island 44 (named for the highest tree at 44 m or 144 ft), the rest of us explored the tidal pools and sandy beaches. Even if I didn't see any otters, I was looking forward to seeing their home surf.
So last summer, I signed up for a five-day kayaking trip to Nuchatlitz Inlet, close to where 89 otters were re-located from Alaska in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The male and female couple floated in the tank, holding "hands," with eyes only for each other.Įver since then, I've wanted to see otters in the wild. I was smitten by their adorable whiskered faces and triangular-shaped black noses, but also by their human-like behaviour. I came in search of sea otters, the furry mammals that were almost wiped out in the trade begun by Captain Cook.Ībout 10 years ago when I met Milo and Nyac. It's about as isolated today as it was in 1778, when Captain Cook landed in Nootka Sound. ), then charter a motorboat or board the MV Uchuck III freighter and travel for several more hours to the northern edge of To get here, you drive to Gold River (365 km or 227 mi northwest of The area's remoteness is a large part of the attraction that, and the countless small islands that make Nuchatlitz Provincial Park a paddling paradise. On this wild coast you need to be self-reliant-or be with a competent guide-because help is not just around the corner. Earlier that morning, David, one of my companions, observed that, "you could walk on water here," referring to the almost impenetrable mass of seaweed floating on and under the surface.Īfter rocking the kayak sideways and digging in hard with my paddle, I finally managed to work free.
My kayak was firmly lodged in wide strands of bull kelp. "Don't leave me," I cried out to my paddling partners on our first morning of kayaking in Searching for sea otters at Nuchatlitz Inlet, BC
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