Telegraph Cove provides access to the waters of Johnstone Strait, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Johnstone Strait is home to the largest resident pod of killer whales (orcas) in the world, with a population of approximately 200 whales. There is no better place to view these amazing marine mammals. In addition to the orcas that can be viewed around Robson Bight, Johnstone Strait offers up a wide variety of other marine life, including minke, humpback and grey whales, Pacific white sided dolphins, harbour porpoises, Dall's porpoises, harbour seals and Steller's sea lions. Bald eagles and an abundance of seabirds will also be encountered in the area.

Location: Johnstone Strait is located off the east coast of Vancouver Island, bordered by Queen Charlotte Strait to the west and Discovery Passage to the east. The 87-kilometre waterway stretches from Chatham Point to Hanson Island, with Vancouver Island to the south and the rugged coast of the BC mainland to the north.

• Telegraph Cove is one of the last boardwalk communities on eastern Vancouver Island, and well worth a visit even if you're not planning to do any whale watching or offshore exploring in Johnstone Strait or beyond.

• Sayward and Kelsey Bay are small coastal settlements in the Sayward Valley at the mouth of the Salmon River where it empties into Johnstone Strait. Surrounded by a spectacular natural environment, the friendly communities provide services for those planning to explore the waters of Johnstone Strait.

• Robson Bight (Michael Biggs) Ecological Reserve, 12 miles (20 km) south of Telegraph Cove, provides ocean adventurers with a sure thing when it comes to whale watching. Pods of orcas come to this part of Johnstone Strait each summer to rub on the barnacle-encrusted rocks at Robson Bight. As the top predator on the inland-water food chain, they are also attracted by the annual salmon runs that funnel through the strait beginning in late June. One of the best ways to approach killer whales is quietly aboard sea kayaks or on a whale watching and wildlife viewing tour.

• Broughton Archipelago Marine Provincial Park is a wilderness area consisting of a maze of small islands, numerous islets and adjacent foreshore at the northern extremity of Johnstone Strait, off the west coast of Gilford Island. The islands in the marine park are undeveloped and largely undiscovered, providing a superb destination for sea kayaking.

• Thurston Bay Marine Provincial Park surrounds Thurston Bay on Sonora Island, at the junction of Johnstone Strait and Discovery Passage. Within close proximity to this undeveloped 389-hectare park, the rocky shoreline yields numerous small inviting beaches, and a pleasant walk along an unkept trail leads to freshwater Florence Lake.

• Coastal Inlets: A number of formidable inlets carve their way deep into the Coast Mountain Range on the BC mainland from Johnstone Strait and the neighbouring waters to the northwest and southeast:

  Kingcome Inlet Knight Inlet Thompson Sound

  Loughborough Inlet Bute Inlet Toba Inlet

• Blackfish Sound at the northern end of Johnstone Strait is wonderfully scenic, consisting of countless islands and inlets offering beautiful natural scenery, awesome kayaking and superb fishing in sheltered and tranquil waters.

• Fishing: The productive waters of the sounds and islands around Johnstone Strait on the east coast provide for fabulous fresh and saltwater fishing. In Johnstone Strait, salmon run from Cracroft Point on the western tip of West Cracroft Island to the Sophia Islands. At the northern end of Johnstone Strait, Blackfish Sound is productive for salmon fishing, offering feeder chinooks throughout the year. The first migratory chinooks appear in late May through to August, followed by the sockeye (June to August), pinks (July to August), coho in mid July, northern coho in September and chum salmon from late August through to October. Winter chinook end off the year by passing through toward the end of December.

• The Aurora Explorer is a 135-foot working vessel that transports supplies to and from isolated logging camps, fish farms, resorts and small coastal communities in the Broughton Archipelago (Kingcome Inlet, Knight Inlet, Blackfish Sound, Queen Charlotte Strait, and Johnstone Strait) and the Discovery Islands and Desolation Sound region (Bute Inlet, Toba Inlet, Loughborough Inlet, Jervis Inlet, and Stuart Island). The steel landing craft is the only working vessel of its kind on the BC coast, and while primarily a freight boat, it can accommodate up to twelve paying passengers in cabins with double bunk berths and a cozy dining/lounge area. Trips are 3 days or 5 days in duration out of Campbell River Marine Terminal in Menzies Bay.