I wanted to see Vancouver Island's wild side. I found it on a small-ship cruise

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Being mauled by a wolf was not something I’d given much thought to, until I locked eyes with one on an early morning kayak in Shushartie Bay on Vancouver Island’s remote northern tip. My husband and I were absorbed in photographing sweeping strands of bull kelp and hadn’t noticed the lone wolf’s silent approach. The menacing canine, mere yards from our kayak, tracked us as it moved along the shore before vanishing into the tree line.

Jeff Reynolds, our expedition leader, told me afterward that this coastal sea wolf was likely an adolescent scouting for its pack, checking what the tide line had to offer before reporting back. He explained that sea wolves differ from their inland cousins, as seafood makes up most of their diet, and their partially webbed toes help them swim for their supper. Or, a breakfast of hapless kayakers too close to shore , I thought .

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On my weeklong stay aboard MV Cascadia on its Vancouver Island’s Wild Side tour, I explored remote northwest shores of coastal B.C. accessible only by float plane or boat. It’s one of the many small-ship excursions run by Maple Leaf Adventures, which sails the Wild Side route twice a year and is the only tourism outfit that makes the trip over the top of the island and down its northwest coast.

Days aboard the powerful, 138-foot catamaran were punctuated by Reynolds’ cheerful updates over the PA: “Humpback whales, portside, 2 o’clock!”

Captain Jeff Harvey slowed Cascadia for these sightings, and we hurried from prow to portside to see pods of humpback whales, orcas and porpoises surfacing, sea lions cuddling pups on rocky shores and tufted puffins bombing around the seabird sanctuary of Solander Island. Our first long-table dinner of puttanesca-style pan-roasted ling cod was interrupted by a sighting of a black bear foraging amid the rocks on the shoreline beyond.

‘Tender tootles’ became something of a fond refrain. With Cascadia safely anchored in coastal inlets, our group of 20 would split into two small tenders and ‘tootle’ off to nearby islands for an hour or so ashore. Each destination offered its own education, narrated by marine biologist and ecologist Reynolds and the ship’s naturalist Robyn Hutchings.