Today was one of these days that you can never forget. We prepared ourselves last night by booking an expedition to see whales with the idea of visiting Butchart Gardens in the morning and going on the whale trip at lunch time before ending the day with a return visit to Butchart Gardens.
Butchart Gardens were built on a disused quarry and are one of the most magnificent gardens in the world. The colours stemming from roses, fuchias, begonias etc situated in gardens that were, for example, sunken gardens, a Japanese garden and an Italian garden all of which were fantastic to see and smell. And then topped with that there were fountains and sculptures.
We cut short our morning visit to the gardens to focus on our trip out to sea. Our trip started at Sidney where we were kitted out with life jacket suits - we looked as though we had just got off a space craft. However these suits were also there to keep us warm, although the temperature had reached the 20's we had heard that it had been quite choppy out at sea that morning with, we later learnt 4 ft waves. Our trip though was on a near calm sea. Our vessel was a Zodiac and as soon as we left the harbour our boat reached speeds of up 30mph and really zipped along the water. Our goal was to sea orcas or killer whales. There is no guarantee that these creatures are going to be seen but were were not let down. There are 2 or 3 resident pods of whales around these parts and we managed to find one of them. To see them was absolutely brilliant, especially when we saw them jump out of the water and a return with a huge splash. Awesome.
We spent a good hour to 2 hours following and watching the whales, ensuring that we didn't get too close. It was reassuring to note that there was a vessel within the vicinity patrolling and policing the area to ensure that boats did not get to close or infringe whale watching standards. There are hefty fines if these are violated.
After watching the whales our guide did a spot of fishing and caught a rock fish within practically seconds. This fish acted as food for a Bald Eagle. He knew where this eagle was along with her mate, nest and chicks, and the type of fish that they liked. Reaching near the island where they were roosting he threw the food into the water and down came the Bald Eagle, scooping the fish out of the water and taking it across to the nest from which we could here the excited chicks.
From here we went to look at some Pacific seals who again offered some excellent photo opportunities.
So back on terra firma we went back to Butchart Gardens. I had known some time go that there was a Jazz Fastival in Victoria and that there would be a Jazz singer at the gardens. So I was delighted to see the surprise and delight on Barbara's face when she realised there would be an open air evening concert. It turned colder and colder as we sat listening to Barbara Blair sing her heart out. By the time she had finished it was dark. But throughout the whole of the gardens lights lit up the flowers and fountains providing us with a fantastic display of colour to end a brilliant day.
We cut short our morning visit to the gardens to focus on our trip out to sea. Our trip started at Sidney where we were kitted out with life jacket suits - we looked as though we had just got off a space craft. However these suits were also there to keep us warm, although the temperature had reached the 20's we had heard that it had been quite choppy out at sea that morning with, we later learnt 4 ft waves. Our trip though was on a near calm sea. Our vessel was a Zodiac and as soon as we left the harbour our boat reached speeds of up 30mph and really zipped along the water. Our goal was to sea orcas or killer whales. There is no guarantee that these creatures are going to be seen but were were not let down. There are 2 or 3 resident pods of whales around these parts and we managed to find one of them. To see them was absolutely brilliant, especially when we saw them jump out of the water and a return with a huge splash. Awesome.
We spent a good hour to 2 hours following and watching the whales, ensuring that we didn't get too close. It was reassuring to note that there was a vessel within the vicinity patrolling and policing the area to ensure that boats did not get to close or infringe whale watching standards. There are hefty fines if these are violated.
After watching the whales our guide did a spot of fishing and caught a rock fish within practically seconds. This fish acted as food for a Bald Eagle. He knew where this eagle was along with her mate, nest and chicks, and the type of fish that they liked. Reaching near the island where they were roosting he threw the food into the water and down came the Bald Eagle, scooping the fish out of the water and taking it across to the nest from which we could here the excited chicks.
From here we went to look at some Pacific seals who again offered some excellent photo opportunities.
So back on terra firma we went back to Butchart Gardens. I had known some time go that there was a Jazz Fastival in Victoria and that there would be a Jazz singer at the gardens. So I was delighted to see the surprise and delight on Barbara's face when she realised there would be an open air evening concert. It turned colder and colder as we sat listening to Barbara Blair sing her heart out. By the time she had finished it was dark. But throughout the whole of the gardens lights lit up the flowers and fountains providing us with a fantastic display of colour to end a brilliant day.
No comments:
Post a Comment