--- title: "Berry Island Lodge" kind: "Bear Viewing Lodges" region: "Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia" canonical: "https://wildernessledger.com/experience/berry-island-lodge" author: "Ben Taft" reviewed: "2026-09-14" operator: "https://www.thebucketlistcollection.com/canada" --- # Berry Island Lodge > Berry Island Lodge: packages of 4 to 7 days are priced on enquiry by dates and group size (the lodge publishes no tariff), season 1 June to 6 October 2026, 12 ocean-view rooms on an off-grid island reached by the 12:00 water taxi from Alder Bay, with a $500 per person non-refundable deposit. - Kind: Bear Viewing Lodges - Region: Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia (gateway Bella Bella or Port Hardy) - Season: June 1 to October 6 in 2026; May 30 to October 8 in 2027 - Sleeps: 24 guests - Access: Boat, Road, Scheduled flight - Rate band: $$$, $1,000–2,000 per person / night - Canonical page: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/berry-island-lodge - Operator site: https://www.thebucketlistcollection.com/canada - Record checked: 13 September 2026 by Ben Taft Berry Island Lodge, formerly Farewell Harbour Lodge, sits on a rocky point of Berry Island in the Broughton Archipelago Marine Park, at the southern edge of the Great Bear Rainforest and in the traditional territory of the Mamalilikulla First Nation. The main lodge is cedar, with a lounge around a brick fireplace, a dining room and bar, and a boardwalk deck leading to eight oceanside guest rooms; a ramp runs down to a floating lodge with four more rooms on the water. Every room has an ocean view, an ensuite bathroom and a fireplace. Stays are all-inclusive: the water taxi from Alder Bay, all meals and non-alcoholic drinks, accredited guides and every excursion. Days are planned each evening around the weather and the wildlife: full-day bear viewing in the inlets and estuaries by boat, zodiac or on foot; marine tours for orca, humpbacks, dolphins, porpoises and sea lions; guided sea kayaking and paddleboarding from the dock; rainforest walks; and visits to Indigenous cultural sites. The 5 pm swim club is a lodge tradition, optional, with a warm towel waiting. Guests are asked to be able to step in and out of boats and walk uneven ground; children are welcome from seven. ## From, per person What the package buys, how the days run, and the terms you sign, from the lodge's own pages. The lodge publishes no rates: packages and pricing are quoted on enquiry, by dates and group size, so there is no tariff here and the price band on this page is an estimate. Read from The Bucket List Collection, Canada (Berry Island) on 14 September 2026. ## At a glance - Season: 1 Jun to 6 Oct (30 May to 8 Oct in 2027) - Packages: 4 to 7 days (priced on enquiry; 4, 5 and 8 days in 2027) - Minimum age: 7 (with full-time parental supervision) - Rooms: 12 (all ocean view, ensuite, two beds) - Water taxi: 12:00 to 12:30 (from Alder Bay; be there by 11:30) - Power: Off-grid (battery and inverter; no guest laundry) - Deposit: $500 (per person, non-refundable) - Gratuity: $50 (per guest per day, suggested) ## Included - Return water taxi between Alder Bay and Berry Island, with the ground shuttle from Port Hardy airport on arrival morning if you fly - A private room with ocean view and ensuite bathroom - Welcome lunch, orientation and a half-day marine tour on arrival - All meals and snacks, lunch on day 1 to lunch on departure day, and all non-alcoholic drinks - All excursions and activities: bear viewing, marine tours, guided sea kayaking and paddleboarding, rainforest walks, Indigenous cultural visits - Accredited guides, boat and skipper, and all transport and specialised equipment for excursions - Kayaks, paddleboards and gear rentals; rain gear and rubber boots on loan - BC Government hotel tax and the guest conservation fee ## Not included - Alcoholic drinks - Gratuities; $50 per guest per day is the lodge's suggestion - Items of a personal nature - Travel insurance - Getting to Alder Bay, and the night before on Vancouver Island - Flights from Vancouver to Port Hardy; the lodge will book them on Pacific Coastal for an extra fee ## Deposit and cancellation - Deposit: $500 per person at booking, non-refundable; cancelled more than 90 days out it becomes a credit toward a future stay - Balance due: 50% of the package price at 90 days before arrival and 100% at 45 days, each non-refundable once paid - More than 90 days out: Deposit kept, credited to a future stay - 45 to 90 days: $500 per person; the rest of what you have paid becomes a credit - 45 days or fewer: 100%, no refund or credit Credits are held for 24 months and applied at the rates available when you rebook. A $150 per person fee applies to any change of dates; the lodge will try to accommodate changes with at least 60 days' notice, and changes inside 60 days may carry fees or restrictions. The lodge highly recommends travel insurance, given the remote location and the nature of the trips. Read from Berry Island, frequently asked questions (cancellation policy, children, tipping) on 14 September 2026. ## Questions people ask **How much does Berry Island Lodge cost?** The lodge does not print a rate. Its Book Now page says packages and pricing are customised to your dates and group size, and asks you to enquire. Every package is all-inclusive: the water taxi from Alder Bay, the room, all meals and non-alcoholic drinks, guides and every excursion. In 2026 the lodge sold 4 to 7 day packages with daily arrivals; for 2027 it sells 4, 5 and 8 day packages, the 4-day starting every Sunday and Friday and the 5-day every Monday and Wednesday. Whole-lodge bookings for families, retreats and events are priced separately. **How do I get there, and when does the boat leave?** Every stay starts at Alder Bay RV Park and Marina, near Port McNeill. The lodge's water taxi leaves between 12:00 and 12:30 pm and asks you to be there by 11:30 to park and sort luggage; parking at Alder Bay is free for the length of your stay. The crossing through Johnstone Strait and Blackfish Sound takes about 30 minutes, and the boat brings you back to Alder Bay around noon on departure day. Flying, take Pacific Coastal from Vancouver's South Terminal to Port Hardy the day before; the lodge's shuttle from Port Hardy airport to Alder Bay, about 40 minutes, is included on arrival morning, and on the way out it takes you back for a flight booked after 2:00 pm. Driving from Vancouver, it is the Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo ferry and about 345 km, four hours, to Alder Bay, so the lodge asks you to be on Vancouver Island the night before. Getting to Berry Island Lodge, step by step: https://wildernessledger.com/getting-to-berry-island-lodge **What are the rooms like?** Twelve rooms, every one with an ocean view, an ensuite bathroom with shower, a gas fireplace and two beds. Eight are along the cedar boardwalk on the shore and four are on the floating lodge below, reached by a ramp. Because arrivals and departures are daily, the lodge does not allocate particular rooms in advance. **What does a day look like?** Arrival day is the water taxi at 12:30, a light lunch and orientation, then an afternoon marine tour, back by 4:30 pm for the 5 pm swim club. Dinner is a buffet, followed by a briefing on the next day and a talk by one of the guides. A full day is breakfast, then out from the dock: a full-day bear-viewing trip to the inlets and estuaries, watching from the boat, a zodiac or on foot depending on the tide, back by 4:30. Other days you choose from a marine tour, a bear ecology tour, a coastal safari, sea kayaking, a rainforest hike, an Indigenous cultural tour or paddleboarding, as half or full days. Nothing is pre-booked; each evening around dinner the guides settle the next day with you against the weather and the wildlife. Departure morning has time for a short kayak, a marine excursion, a guided forest or forest-bathing walk, a cultural site visit or the Berry Loop Trail on your own, before the noon boat. **Will I see bears and whales?** The lodge's own answer is that the chances are high and sightings cannot be guaranteed. Viewing is from small boats or on foot, in the animals' habitat, and the guides choose where to go each day from the season's and the day's patterns. Grizzlies and black bears are sought in the inlets and estuaries; orca, humpbacks, Pacific white-sided dolphins, Dall's porpoises, Steller sea lions and sea otters in the waters around the island. The lodge is a member of the North Island Marine Mammal Stewardship Association and the Commercial Bear Viewing Association. **How fit do I need to be, and can children come?** No experience is needed and the tours are not strenuous, but you must be able to get in and out of boats, manage the ramps and docks and walk uneven ground; the lodge and its tours are not wheelchair or walker accessible. Children are welcome from age 7 with full-time parental supervision. The lodge is building a children's programme but says plainly that the long boat rides and full days outdoors suit some children better than others, and asks parents to judge their readiness. Guests under 19 need a separate informed-consent form signed by a parent or guardian. **What is the food, and can the kitchen handle allergies?** Chef-cooked, much of it served buffet style, with boat lunches on excursion days, and all non-alcoholic drinks included; the bar is extra. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and common allergens are handled with notice at booking. The lodge is candid that it is a shared kitchen in a remote place: buffet dishes and shared coolers on the boats mean cross-contact cannot be ruled out, and guests with severe allergies are asked to weigh that and to bring their own epinephrine. **Is there power, laundry or a phone signal?** The lodge is off-grid, on a battery and inverter system that has replaced most of the diesel, with a freshwater well in place of the old desalination plant. There is no guest laundry; the laundromat at Alder Bay is the place to do a wash before or after. Wifi and cell coverage are unknown under the new owners; the lodge's pages do not say, so ask when you book if it matters. **What should I pack?** A detailed packing list comes with your guest package about 45 days before arrival. Rain gear and rubber boots are provided, and this is a temperate rainforest where rain falls in summer too, so come prepared for a range of weather. A swimsuit for the swim club, and a liability waiver, signed before you reach Alder Bay, are the two things the lodge singles out. Open the Berry Island packing list: https://wildernessledger.com/berry-island-packing-list **What happens if I have to cancel?** The $500 per person deposit is non-refundable, though cancelled more than 90 days out it becomes a credit. Half the package is due at 90 days and all of it at 45; cancel between 45 and 90 days and you lose $500 per person with the rest held as a credit, cancel inside 45 days and there is no refund or credit. Credits last 24 months. Date changes cost $150 per person. The lodge highly recommends travel insurance. **Do I tip?** Gratuities are not included. The lodge suggests $50 per guest per day. **Is this the same place as Farewell Harbour Lodge?** Yes. Berry Island Wilderness Lodge is Farewell Harbour Lodge under new ownership, sold as the Canadian destination of The Bucket List Collection; the operator's own pages still use both names. The lodge was homesteaded in 1920 and sits in the Broughton Archipelago Marine Park in the traditional territory of the Mamalilikulla First Nation. The Bucket List Family, whose name the collection carries, will most likely not be on the property during your stay, in the lodge's own words. ## Stories - The best grizzly bear lodges in British Columbia, from the ones I have stayed at: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/best-grizzly-bear-lodges-british-columbia (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/best-grizzly-bear-lodges-british-columbia.md) - Grizzly bear viewing in BC: how it actually works: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/grizzly-bear-viewing-bc (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/grizzly-bear-viewing-bc.md) - Is grizzly bear viewing safe, and is it ethical? What the guides actually do: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/is-bear-viewing-safe-and-ethical (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/is-bear-viewing-safe-and-ethical.md) - Knight Inlet Lodge review: two seasons, the plane, the stands, the bill: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/knight-inlet-lodge-review (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/knight-inlet-lodge-review.md) - The Point at Farewell Harbour: Berry Island Lodge, before and after the name: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/the-point-at-farewell-harbour (plain text: https://wildernessledger.com/guides/the-point-at-farewell-harbour.md) ## Sources - The Bucket List Collection, Canada (Berry Island): https://www.thebucketlistcollection.com/canada (read 14 September 2026) - Berry Island, Book Now (seasons and packages): https://www.thebucketlistcollection.com/berry-island-book-now (read 14 September 2026) - Berry Island, sample itinerary and inclusions: https://www.thebucketlistcollection.com/itinerary-at-berry-island (read 14 September 2026) - Berry Island, accommodations and lodge: https://www.thebucketlistcollection.com/accommodations-at-berry-island (read 14 September 2026) - Berry Island, frequently asked questions (cancellation policy, children, tipping): https://www.thebucketlistcollection.com/berryisland-faqs (read 14 September 2026) Canonical page: https://wildernessledger.com/experience/berry-island-lodge Written by Ben Taft, Photographer and filmmaker, The Wilderness Ledger (https://wildernessledger.com/about). Ben Taft visited and photographed Berry Island Lodge in person; the figures above are from the operator's own published material, read on the dates shown. Every photograph and film is his. Publisher: The Wilderness Ledger. Corrections: hello@wildernessledger.com.