I feel blessed having so much wildlife around me living in the “River City” (Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada) and thankful every day for the opportunities that surround me. I primarily do a lot of “shore watching” throughout the year, but during the summer months I do enjoy supporting our local businesses and experiencing additional adventures out on the water or to places only accessible by boat.

This summer (2025) I booked excursions from my home town of Campbell River with the family-owned business, Eagle Eye Adventures. Owners Jos & Rentia Krynen share their deep passion of wildlife with travellers from around the world via tours for those who are young and older alike. From the adventurous escape on zodiacs to more relaxed comfortable seating on the covered boat, from 4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours, to 8, there is something for everyone to enjoy the nature that is only a moment’s away from the docks of the Coastal Marina located off Highway 19A (Coastal Highway).

As mentioned above, Eagle Eye Adventures offers a variety of tours from May through to October. Throughout the summer I participated in their 4 hour wildlife tour, 6 hour whale watching tour, 5 hour Spring Bear & Waterfall tour, and finally culminating the season, the full day Grizzly Expedition to Toba Inlet (Mainland British Columbia). I travelled on both their zodiacs and the beautiful covered vessel, IKAIKA. Each tour was unique and offered a different experience within the Discovery Islands and Beyond!

It’s so difficult to pick a favourite from all the different tours that I had experienced, but! here are a few that definitely I can say were my top 3 with Eagle Eye this season.

Spring Bears & Waterfalls – 5 hour tour

May 13, 2025 – I joined the 5 hour Spring Bear & Waterfalls tour and it did not disappoint! We had it all. Spring bears (both Black Bears and a Grizzly!) and gorgeous waterfalls within the inlets of mainland British Columbia. I was on board the covered vessel, IKAIKA and owner Jos Krynen was our Captain for the day. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with the most perfect weather and the bears were amazing! Watching the black bears at low tide at the water’s edge feasting on mussels and goodies was incredible and the grizzly bear in Toba inlet was an unexpected surprise bonus. Captain Jos certainly knows how to find those bears! Included in the 5 hour tour was a lovely lunch, aromatic coffee, and plenty of snacks. It was an exceptional day with great company, scenery, and of course the bears were the stars of the day!

6 hour Wildlife Tour (May)

Well well well … what can I say about this amazing 6 hour wildlife tour. It ranks up there as one of the top 3 for sure. Travelling on the covered boat IKAIKA, it began with a jaw-dropping humpback whale show in Brown’s Bay, a mere 20-30 minutes from Campbell River. “Wisp” and “Malachite”, two humpback whales breached over 40 times and every single guest was just in awe of the magic that was before us.

Then! if you think the day couldn’t get any better, we had lunch with a grizzly bear within one of the Fjord Arms of the Mainland. We were going to stop for lunch and by incredible luck and good fortune, there was a huge grizzly boar eating sedge grass within the inlet. May 10, 2025 is one for the history books and just saying again – how amazing the month of May can be for wildlife within and near the Discovery Islands, accessible from Campbell River.

and now finally for the last reveal …

Full Day Grizzly Adventure to Toba Inlet (September)
in partnership with Klahoose Coastal Adventures

A very early day for this trip, but well worth the 5:30 AM wake up call to be ready at the docks for 07:00 AM. We travelled ~ 2 hours up into Toba Inlet where we were greeted by guides from Klahoose Coastal Adventures. We boarded their van to be taken up the Klite River to several viewing towers to watch the fall Grizzly Bears feast on the fall salmon run.

Each tower had a different vantage point / view of the river offering several places to view grizzly bears. We were very lucky that as we stepped onto the first platform viewing box, there was a mother grizzly bear with two cubs right below us relaxing in the river. We spent a good amount of time with this trio of bears and with that lifetime memories. Further downstream was a large grizzly boar which we were also able to view from the same platform; but the highlight of the day was most definitely the gorgeous mamma bear and her two cubs.

This was an exceptional trip and highly recommend it to anyone who has never been to either Bute or Toba Inlets to view the Fall Grizzlies. The entire trip was professional and well run from morning to late afternoon when we returned to Campbell River.

Hope you enjoy my top 3 reveal of Season 2025 with Eagle Eye Adventures! Their contact information is below should you wish to join them on a tour in 2026.

‍