The Eagle Show in Campbell River

Our primary reason for visiting Campbell River was the famous Eagle Show. While in the Khutzeymateen, we received an email saying the operator could not run our tour and offered to transfer us to another vendor. We had chosen this company specifically for their boat: enclosed with good outdoor space rather than an open zodiac, so we were not thrilled. Before we even had a chance to respond, they wrote again to say they had sorted it out. Then, on the morning we were in Port Hardy, another email arrived saying the tour was cancelled. Moments later, another message followed saying they had figured it out after all. The back-and-forth was frustrating, and I suspected we were the only people signed up which made it hard to confirm numbers. Would this tour actually happen? We would soon find out.

It was an easy drive south, though a note about Canadian driving from someone used to Australia: if the speed limit is 80 and you drive 80, normally calm Canadians will lose their patience quickly, overtaking at high speed. On Vancouver Island, the norm seemed to be at least 20 km over the posted limit.

We arrived in Campbell River around 6:30 p.m. and made a stop at Walmart for groceries. Here we scored the best food deal of the trip: a rotisserie chicken for $5.99, marked half-price because it was the end of the day. We were settled in our Airbnb, a quiet studio about 10 minutes south of town, making chicken wraps by 7:30pm.

With a free day before the Eagle Show, we booked an afternoon whale watching trip with Eagle Eye Adventures. This meant another open zodiac and another round of bulky one-piece survival suits with integrated flotation. The layout was not ideal for photography: four or five tight rows of three, with someone in the middle seat and little room to stand. Andy, in the back row, had the better angle. Since we were both on the same side of the boat, I decided to give the big camera a rest and just enjoy the view.

The trip delivered. We spotted orca, cruised through the islands with humpbacks nearby, and watched otters bobbing in the kelp. Despite the cramped layout, Andy managed some of the best whale-tail photos of the trip.

The next morning began early on the dock at the Adventure Quest office at 6:45 a.m. We were relieved that the tour was going ahead, and thrilled to learn that there was only one other couple on board.

You know it is going to be a great day when you are greeted by a blue heron in gorgeous light at the dock.

We had barely left the harbour before spotting the same humpbacks from the day before. Then came five orca, so close to shore it felt unreal, although the water here drops off steeply into great depths. We followed them for a while and I captured my first spy-hop image before it was time to move on to the main event.

The Eagle Show is a phenomenon that only happens on a few days each year, and only for a few hours at a time. When the tide rushes through Discovery Passage with extraordinary speed, hake and other fish are forced from depths of around 800 feet to the surface. The sudden pressure, well, it kills them. This created an all-you-can-eat feast that draws in hundreds of bald eagles.

Our captain timed our arrival perfectly. The current ripped through the channel, creating swirling water spouts, while hundreds of adult and juvenile eagles filled the sky and shoreline.

It was overwhelming at first: so many eagles you hardly knew where to look. Focus on a bird and hope it snatched a fish, or track a fish and wait for an eagle to grab it.

The spectacle lasted a little over an hour before the birds began to slow down, bellies full. Before leaving, the captain demonstrated the strength of the current by letting the boat drift in circles.

As if the eagles were not enough, the day continued with more sightings: harbour seals, additional groups of orca, and more humpbacks.

The strangest sighting of all was a lone otter carrying a dead river otter. This was apparently not unusual for the area: the otter, known locally as Oliver, even has his own Facebook page and has been covered in the news for his deviant behaviour.

And with that, our time in Campbell River came to an end. The Eagle Show had been completely unexpected, delivering unforgettable wildlife moments. And somewhere along the way I also hatched a new plan: could we tack on a trip to Newfoundland at the end of this journey? The only obstacle was changing our WestJet flights, which required speaking to an agent. My VOIP phone app had stopped working, so Andy suggested we stop at an airport en route to Tofino.

Campbell River Airport turned out to be freight only. They directed us to Comox, but the staff there could only check people in, not modify existing bookings. With no luck, we decided to sort it out once we reached Tofino. The question lingered: would we manage to see all the puffin species on this trip?