Vancouver Island &

Orca Alley

Tue Sept 19th

Local Orca passing through - they came back in the other direction the following morning

After the departure of the mountain bike crowd, we had a week with Ros before she and the expensive mountain bike she won at Whistler's 2022 Crankworx, returned to NZ.  Crankworx Whistler is one of the World's leading mountain biking competitions and she was one of the volunteers working the event in
2022.  

Did you know some mountain bikes now come with electronic gear change and seat height controls!  Quite why anybody would want to spend north of $15k (Ca) on a mountain bike that is going to be thrown down a hill is beyond me.

The Wednesday before Ros went back out to NZ, we managed to get out for an afternoon's sail on one of the club boats with one of my sailing mates and his wife.

We had a gentle potter up West Howe Sound towards Langdale in a light breeze.  

It is a beautiful setting for a sail with the mountains on the Sunshine Coast, Keats and Gambier Island in the foreground and the North Shore Mountains as a backdrop.  Might make a sailor of Ros yet!


__________________________

The day after dropping Seb back to Vancouver the week prior, I had to head back to Vancouver for a dental appointment.  As I needed some more paint for the wardrobes I'm making for Nick and Lizzie, a quick visit to Home Depot (like a B&Q on steroids) was in order. It was clear thoughts are already turning to Halloween.  It's a calendar date taken seriously out here and the Home Depot display was pretty impressive .......  3m high lit, moving and noisy ghouls very much on display.


No expense spared for the home decorator wanting to adorn their front garden.  Some of the larger ones are between $300 and $500 each and some exhibitionists fill their front garden/yard.



_______________________

In the last couple of weeks we have enjoyed numerous whale sightings.  On Sept 7th, just after finishing the last blog we had a pod of Orca off our local beach.  Three days later a pod of Humpback Whales starting breaching off Bonniebrook Beach, albeit about 5k offshore.  

Friday Sept 15th we headed off to Vancouver Island for a week of exploration and recuperation.  Three days into our trip to East Sooke we have had a pod of Orca swim past our rental about 50' from shore.  As we are about 50' above sea level it has been the most amazing view.  Late Sunday afternoon they headed South towards Victoria, mid morning on Monday the same pod headed back in the opposite direction. 

We are not surprised they have been so much in evidence.  Over the weekend there was about 30 small boats fishing and rafts of Sea-Lions going backwards and forwards all day long.  

There were around five Orca in the pod, which suggests they are the Transient or Bigg's killer whales; their primary food source is other sea mammals, such as Porpoise, Seals, Sea-Lions and small sharks.  There is plenty of food for them.

The condo we are renting sits above what the locals call Orca Alley.  Two hundred metres offshore is a rocky outcrop called Secretary (Donaldson) Island the channel between the island and Van Island providing rich feeding grounds, hence the Orca Alley name.

Some photos of the Orca swimming past our rental are below.

We head back to the Coast on Thursday.  

On Sunday we spent the day in Victoria, BC's provincial capital. We wandered along the waterfront, as we had Jack with us we had decided to avoid tramping the downtown streets of the capital.   Surprisingly it was quite low rise though I think I prefer Vancouver.  Maybe it's because we know it better.  I'm not sure i'll be rushing back to the capital.

East Sooke, where we are staying is very rural.  We have a general store ten minutes away by car (Victoria is just over an hour away), and Sooke town/village about 20 minutes with a few stores but very basic.  I think we are rather spoilt by living in Gibsons, which we both decided we prefer.  

The high spot was finding a brewery for  lunch which did good food and allowed dogs in the bar and on the patio.  Sooke Oceanside Brewery did good food and beer, with views across the inlet to East Sooke.  As they welcomed Jack, they will be getting a great review on Tripadvisor!

Black Oystercatchers on the rock outside the condo

Local fishing vessel competing with the wildlife!

Panoramic view across Strait of San Juan de Fuca to the USA

Sunrise at Orca Alley

and then the fog arrives



Victoria Harbour - great al fresco eating dockside at one end of this row of houseboats

I can think of someone who should walk this trail!



Orca from the deck

So majestic

a family pod

Including youngsters

Sea lions keeping out of the way of the Orca - who are higher up the food chain 








 



 




Comments

  1. AlisonSeptember 18, 2023 at 11:44 PM

    Great photos Mike, you were clearly in the right place to see all those whales! I wonder if there is a long lost relative in the area! Hope you’re all well - we often talk about our visit to BC last year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MikeT67MSeptember 19, 2023 at 6:06 AM

      Only one solution, you’ll have to come back and check it out! 😀

      Delete
  2. BobSeptember 20, 2023 at 2:23 AM

    Fabulous. Still not sure what a condo is as its not in my dictionary!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MikeT67MSeptember 20, 2023 at 11:06 AM

      You've got to get up to speed with the local lingo. Condo = apartment.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Frustrations of Canadian Immigration Services

Image
And other things  Sat June 1st The pause in blogs was due to Immigration Canada announcing at the beginning of May that a further draw would be made from the remaining pool of the 2020 Expressions of Interest (EOI) for Parent and Grandparent sponsored Permanent Residency.    Friday was the last day and again we did not get through.  The fifth year running.  I suspect that later in the year they will invite a new round of EOI's which probably means we will be a small fish back in a very large pool.  On the grand scale of all suffering and instability in the world, it is insignificant  (I keep telling myself),  but it is hugely, bloody frustrating.  Our tenure continues under the Super Visa scheme, which runs until our passports expire in 5 and 8 years time respectively. Other news ...  on Sunday 27th w e went to a wedding reception. It is the first time I have worn a jacket in over three years.  My boarding pass from our Air Can...
Read more

Cream Crackers & Stilton

Image
Blue Sky in Whistler!!!!! Fred on the Piste - not overly busy Before I get on to Whistler ........ In my early BBC career I spent a couple of years working at the BBC’s Television Centre (TVC), in west London.  This was long before the BBC flogged it and it was turned into an apartment hotel and restaurant complex, plus a few TV studios for the industry to use as a nod to its history.   Amongst other things I did a stint as a studio supervisor and worked on the Two Ronnies, Morecombe & Wise and Top of the Pops.  Anyone remember Pan's People? Phwoar! Interesting times. TV Centre was huge and had several thousand staff. The restaurant block, on three floors, included a waitress service restaurant on the '2nd floor' where stars were entertained by their producers over long lunches and the odd glass of wine.  This was the late 70’s before ‘hair shirts’ and the critical public attention the BBC gets today.   Occasionally, a couple of fellow wor...
Read more

Fall Leaves and Rainfall

Image
Jack Vs Car Sat November 9th Fall seems later this year and the deciduous leaves have been a lovely mix of golds and reds with the predominance of Maples in all of its varieties. After last week's storms, most of the leaves are now down along with quite a few trees.  Further up the Coast a tornado was reported taking out multiple trees that closed the main highway and took out power for local residents for around three days.    A local driver caught the trees coming down on video .  After two consecutive dry summers, 2024 has been wetter with no significant water restrictions on the Coast.  I assumed this was good news until reading an article in the UK press that suggested late autumns are just another sign of global warming. The storm left us without power for nearly 12 hours and a huge number of properties were similarly affected across southern and central BC.  Fortunately we had a good supply of candles and a gas lamp.  Some friends near the ...
Read more