TELEGRAPH COVE, B.C. – BC’s first whale watching company is closing after nearly 40 years.
Stubbs Island Whale Watching Company, based in Telegraph Cove, will remain open until January 31st.
After that, Prince of Whales – another whale watching company – will operate out of Telegraph Cove.
Co-owners Heike Wieske, Geord Dunstan and Roger McDonell decided to sell the company after changes in their personal lives, but planned on operating until they found a purchaser.
“We all have our hearts in the company so we hoped to sell it to somebody that takes actually the course that we had and took over from Jim and Mary Borrowman (former owners) and continue on,” Wieske said.
Stubbs Island Whale Watching leases an office space at Telegraph Cove Resort. According to Wieske, operation is ceasing because the resort gave them notice that another whale watching operator is coming to use their office space.
She said this came as a shock to the three of them.
“We were devastated about it and tried to renegotiate and find out a lease so we can operate one more year.”
Since there was no buyer and their lease was ending, Wieske and her co-owners announced the company will cease operations instead.
Wieske said that fortunately, each one of the three owners have other plans, so none of them will be left scrambling for other ventures at the end of the month.
Telegraph Cove Resort owner Gordie Graham said they informed the company’s owners they won’t be able to renew their lease in December, but that was because Stubbs Island was already for sale.
“They were selling the business, they were leaving Telegraph Cove. It wouldn’t have made any difference what happened,” Graham said.
“We never asked them to leave in the beginning. But once they said they were going, and they didn’t have any people wanting to buy it (the company), and we needed a good operator here.”
Graham added that Stubbs Island had a good run, but he believes that Prince of Whales will also have a good run in Telegraph Cove.
