*HAPPY DANCE* I saw whales! I saw whales!
What a day! As you know, we were up early today to go Whale Watching, it took us almost 45 minutes to drive from Vancouver to Steveston a fishing village to go on the Whale Watching Tour.
It took a full 2 hours to get there, and we were warned before we left that if we were prone to seasickness to avoid sitting at the front of the boat as it gets very bouncy… Of course, we ran straight for the front seats.
Side note: Primarily because I know my mum will leave a comment about my getting seasick as a kid, I’ll clarify. I did, horribly too, not so much anymore. Which I’m VERY happy about.
Anyway… we bounced our way out of the port for a full 2 hours in what turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, keeping our eyes peeled for any sight of whales.
I rock! My mum and grandmother used to call me Hawkeye as a kid, turns out that despite wearing glasses now, I’m still pretty good at spotting the difficult. I was first to spot the whales. Killer Whales or Orcas to be precise.
There were at least 5 as far as I was told, I have no idea, I was too excited, and far too busy trying to find the damn things in the view finder of the video camera to film them. I’ve got plenty of footage of these magnificent and graceful animals, and when I finally upload the footage you’ll see plenty of water, and every now and then, plenty of whale too. The trick was to pan out, and then as soon as you spotted a whale, zoom in as quickly as you could to try and catch it. Of course you often missed seeing anything good. But I was fortunate enough to catch one on film just as it rolled onto it’s back and flapped its pectoral fins and slapped it’s tail twice on the water. Very cool!
It was funny really. There were at least 30 people on the boat, and aside from the small groups that people arrived in, noone spoke to each other. But not 30 seconds after spotting whales as a group, everyone mixed, mingled and conversed like they’d been friends for years. Whales really are the answer!
I’m pretty sure a whale would solve the current government problems. If not, the government heads could always be ged to them. Actually, that’s not fair on the whales.
We spent a good hour watching the whales, and observing special boating rules. Boats are only allowed to travel parallel to the direction the whales are travelling, and may not approach closer than 100ft. If however you do find yourself “accidentally” in the path of the approaching whales, you are to stop all engines and remain stationary until they have passed. We must have had a bad Captain, as we ended up in front of the whales “accidentally” numerous times. *laugh* Gotta love an accident!
Another 2 hours, and we were back at the docks, where we had lunch, and then wandered over to check out the Fish Canning Museum. Man, this place was a whole lot more interesting than I ever imagined that it would be. What a complex process, not to mention a dangerous one. The building was built in the mid 1800’s around 1840, and didn’t finally close down from full production until the mind 1970’s. A truly fascinating place.
Aside from grabbing dinner finally when we got back to Vancouver that’s pretty much been the day, and now it’s drawing to a close.
However, before I go, I did remember something from yesterday that I forgot to share…
When we went to Vancouver’s Play Land the fun park we were accosted by “Parking Ninjas” as we were trying to park the car. “Parking Ninjas”? Yes, you read correctly.
Across the road from the fun park, there is a HUGE paid car parking area, where you can park for an entire day for $6.00. There is absolutely no on street parking in the area, as it’s a residents only permit parking area. Not that you should let this deter you.
We turned into the side street that leads to the main parking area, I pulled up at the intersection to give way to traffic, and had a small posse of elderly Asian women pounce at the car from the pavement waving cards at me screaming “Parking fo-dolla” over and over. It took a few seconds for me to work out what was going on.
These enterprising ladies, that I have renamed “Parking Ninjas” were offering to allow people to use there parking permit for a small fee of $4.00. Enterprising yes, annoying… most definitely! If it wasn’t for the fact that they were so aggressive in their approach… admittedly we’re only one car, and there were almost 8 of them vying for our custom, I may have actually taken one of them up on their offer. But not being one to cause a ninja free-for-all, I parked in the main parking area, where I could at least be guaranteed that I was legally parked.
Very amusing and yet so, so strange. Parking? Beware the ninjas!
That’s it, it’s our last night here in Canada tonight, and we’re getting up early again in the morning to do a few things before we leave. So I’m having an early night.
Take care and until next time…
Cheers!
Outside the Box - breadcrumbs from a random mind... 