One of the sought-after white bears in the Great Bear Rainforest of Canada. The animals are black bears of a line that has undergone a genetic mutation.
The island off the west coast of Canada is home to the rare spirit bears
The bear guide, Marven Robinson, is someone you could set your watch to.
A member of the Gitga'at First Nations tribe, he skippers his motorboat into the small bay off Gribbell Island where the Maple Leaf had anchored overnight just as the shipboard clock strikes nine.
The passengers of the two-masted schooner named after Canada's national emblem - about a dozen international tourists hankering for adventure - are already waiting at the railing in rubber boots and layered clothing.
Canada's Pacific Northwest coast can quickly turn inclement, particularly in spring and autumn.
"We'll see what happens today," says Robinson during the greetings on land.
He doesn't promise anything. But then how could he? Gribbell Island is big and uninhabited, covered with forests, mountains and rivers. And what the tourists have come to see here are rare: black bears with white coats, known as "spirit bears" or "Kermode bears".
"Mother Nature directs the show here," Robinson remarks. "We're just the cable carriers."
With that he tromps off with the tourists in tow. A narrow path along a slow stream leads to a makeshift observation platform that overlooks fallen tree trunks and scattered boulders a bit further upstream.
"Now we've got to be quiet and wait," says Robinson, smiling and making himself comfortable on one of the benches. "The spirit bears could turn up any minute - or not."
Although the Maple Leaf had thus far completed just three-fourths of its cruise between Vancouver Island and the southern tip of the Alaskan panhandle, all of the passengers are already describing their experience with every conceivable superlative.
For nearly a week, Captain Greg Shea and his crew has steered the 92-foot vessel, built in 1904, through the spectacular natural scenery dubbed the Great Bear Rainforest by environmental groups in the 1990s.
Sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and Coast Mountains, this magical region, North America's last relatively intact temperate rainforest and home to its last large populations of grizzly bears, is a place of deep fjords, snow-covered mountains and innumerable uninhabited islands.
"We don't promise our guests that they'll see bears," Shea warns, immediately adding that in all his years at the helm of the Maple Leaf he had always succeeded in encountering some bears, not to mention other, no less fascinating wildlife.
Humpback whales are spotted almost daily during the cruise. Four of the gentle giants give a gala evening performance in Bishop Bay's glassy waters. Off Gil Island, black-and-white Dall's porpoises shoot arrow-like through the waves.
Herring-hunting orcas slapped the water with their tail flukes to keep hungry ospreys from swiping their dinner.
Colonies of sea lions clamour on sea-washed rocks, mountain goats perched on cliffs high above the ship, wolf tracks lie in the mud of river mouths. Every time the passengers and crew go ashore is an expedition into the unknown.
But the main attraction is the spirit bears, whose number is estimated at only 400.
Their white fur comes from a recessive gene, much like red hair in humans. Their sole habitat is the Great Bear Rainforest, most of them living on Princess Royal Island and nearby islands such as Gribbell.
The tourists on the observation platform, meanwhile, are growing increasingly impatient. Having enthusiastically photographed the first black bears they spot fishing for salmon, they now ignore them. Everyone is waiting for the stars of the rainforest.
"They're probably taking a nap," says Robinson. No sooner has he spoken than someone whispers excitedly, "A spirit bear!"
About 70 metres upstream, a large white bear emerges from the green underbrush. Furiously swinging its paws, it's pursuing a salmon through shallow water, though the fish gets away.
The bear climbs onto a fallen tree trunk and calmly scans the water. For a few minutes nothing happens. Then it dives into the water with a big belly flop and resurfaces a few seconds later with a huge salmon in its mouth.
After its meal, the bear leisurely pads past the Maple Leaf's passengers - so close that we can hear its stomach rumbling. No one says a word. No one moves. A short distance upstream it is joined by an ordinary black bear.
The tension on the platform finally gives way to giggling.
Robinson beams. "It doesn't get any better than that, does it?" he says.
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Source: http://www.news.thethailandlinks.com/2013/04/25/gribbells-mutant-bears/
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