May 20, 2007 in Outdoors

Something to sea

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Photo courtesy Sea Kayak Adventures photo

Terry Prichard and Nancy Mertz of Coeur d’Alene, co-owners of Sea Kayak Adventures Inc., watch an orca surface after it swam under their kayak in British Columbia’s Johnstone Strait. “She turned and looked me right in the eye,” Mertz said.
(Full-size photo)

More than a decade ago, Terry Prichard and Nancy Mertz found a whale of a sea-kayaking destination in the saltwaters of British Columbia.

Terry had already been guiding paddlers to see orcas (killer whales) in the San Juan Islands when the couple met in 1991. “We were paddling by mansions and more and more tour boats every day and the poor southern orcas were beleaguered,” Mertz said, noting that trying to spot orcas from kayaks often was disappointing.

The couple married and hired on as North Idaho whitewater guides before founding their company, Sea Kayak Adventures in 1993. Based in Coeur d’Alene, their business originally hinged on paddling clients through the warm waters of Baja.

But with orcas still on his mind, Prichard finally made an expedition to a British Columbia orca Mecca called Johnstone Strait, a deep and narrow glacier-carved passage between the east coast of Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland.

“He came back and said this is the spot,” Mertz said. “The southern orcas in Puget Sound number about 75, but up in Johnstone the northern orcas are much healthier, with about 220 clustering and feeding on salmon by working a 40-mile section back and forth in July, August and early September.”

The islands and shoreline are much more natural and undeveloped than in Puget Sound. The scenery is stunning; the salmon runs prolific; the beach camping opportunities are premier. A pod of scientists has been studying the Johnstone orcas for decades, providing a wealth of information.

“It’s all we hoped for,” Mertz said.

“Our groups plan to paddle only about four hours a day from one spot to the next,” she said. “People can go farther if they want, but we want to build in time for just sitting on the water and enjoying the orcas when you see them.”

The company also offers a lodge-based trip for paddlers who don’t want to paddle from beach to beach and camp. The campers, however, live luxuriously on these fully-outfitted trips, with Dutch-oven cooking and fresh produce daily, portable solar showers, guides that chart the tides to go with the flow and even hydrophones to hear the whales communicate underwater.

“British Columbia has recognized this is a fantastic area for orcas and has gone a long way to protecting them,” Mertz said. “The Robson Bight, which is famous for having pebble beaches the orcas love to rub on, is the first orca preserve that’s off limits to boats.”

Orcas are not the only attraction. “We see lots of bald eagles, porpoises, humpbacks and Minke whales. The water is so clear, you can see orange and purple starfish down deep and mountains that shoot up from the water like you’re in a forested Grand Canyon,” Mertz said.

But there’s nothing quite like the experience of having a orca surface and blow near your boat, she said.

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