Cherry blossoms are in full bloom in Vancouver and area. We found these ones in South Surrey in March 2016 while we were on a family trip during March Break. As a resident of Toronto, have to say I was a little jealous of their cherry blossom trees. Not only do they bloom earlier than us, they have many more trees than we do in Toronto, at least, it seemed that way. We saw trees everywhere we looked from Vancouver to Abbotsford.
Vancouver celebrates the Sakura trees and even has a Cherry Blossom Festival. In 2016, it runs from March 24 to April 17th.
For more information about the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival including a map of cherry tree locations, visit here. The map helped us find the trees pictured above.
One of my favourite drives into the city and spot to view the CN Tower. Also, a partial view of the Rogers Centre (white roof). It was formerly named Skydome, I think I’ll always think of it as that. The Rogers Centre is home to the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team and until last year, the Toronto Argonauts football team. It was opened in 1989 and has a fully retractable roof and hotel attached to it with many rooms overlooking the field.
First Nations dancers from the Lekwungen Traditional Dancers group performs at the 2nd annual Aboriginal Cultural Festival in Victoria, British Columbia, June 2015. The Lekwungen dancers are from the Songhees Nation and the wolf is the symbol of the Songhees, traditionally known as Lekwungen.
This festival celebrates the rich Indigenous cultures in British Columbia. Dancers, singers and artists come from all over Vancouver island, mainland British Columbia, and some from other parts of Canada. The festival coincides with Aboriginal Day in June. If you love festivals and want to learn about and join in celebrating First Nations culture, get to Victoria in June.
For more information about this festival, visit here.
One of my favourite things to do when I visit British Columbia is to go on a whale watching tour. I’ve been to BC several times and have been on many whale watching tours in Victoria, Tofino and Vancouver, British Columbia.
While on a sunset whale watching tour in the waters of the Salish Sea near Victoria, we were surrounded by a family of orca whales. Suddenly, an orca whale came out of the water to check us out.
A wild & free transient Orca whale (also known as Killer Whale) in the Salish Sea, the waters near Victoria, British Columbia.
Shortly after the above photo was taken, a mother and baby orca swam under our boat, twice. We also had a rare opportunity to watch Orca whales as they taught their young how to hunt for porpoises and saw a humpback whale and seals. It was my favourite whale watching tour to date.
Mother Orca teaching her young one how to hunt for porpoise.
Two orcas in the water near Victoria, British Columbia with Race Rock in the background.
A humpback whale tale against the sunset in the Salish Sea near Victoria, British Columbia
I highly recommend Eagle Wing Tours in Victoria, British Columbia for these reasons:
They are Canada’s first carbon-neutral, eco-adventure whale watching company
They partner with the Songhees First Nation, traditional territory of Victoria, to offer the Songhees Nation Cultural Tour
They contribute to conservation and education
They have several tour options and boats available. I enjoyed the tour on the Goldwing.
Four-year-old Lason Taylor is a 3rd generation performer in the Le-La-La Dancers First Nations dance company. I captured this image as he performed at the 2nd annual three-day Aboriginal Cultural Festival in Victoria, British Columbia in June 2015.
The Le-La-La dancers are from the Kwakwaka’wakh First Nation in Northern Vancouver Island. They have been sharing their culture and traditions through beautiful songs and sacred dances of their
ancestors under the direction of George Me’las Taylor locally and around the world for 27 years.
The passing of stories from generation to generation is how their rich culture has survived and will continue to survive. Events like this are important so that we may learn about cultures in our countries and in the places we visit in our travels. Gilakasla Le-La-La.
I usually bring my 40-150mm 2.8 pro lens for a whale watching tour without a second thought as the whales are never close enough to use a shorter focal length. For the first time, I stood at the trunk of the car and questioned whether I should take the shorter focal length lens.
I had been on 2 whale watching trips during my visits to British Columbia this summer and didn’t even think about it before, but for some reason I had 2 minutes of photographer anxiety. In the end, I didn’t take it because I know that when wildlife appears closer than they normally do, there’s not enough time to change lenses.
Maybe I just knew I was going to see orca whales up close.
We came upon a pod of transient orcas after about a 20 to 30-minute ride from where we departed at Fisherman’s Wharf in Victoria, British Columbia. Transient orca whales are also known as Biggs killer whales. We watched them alternate between shorter 2-minute and deeper 4-minute dives. In those longer dives, they were hunting.
As our captain vied for position and stopped a safe distance away, my best friend who is from British Columbia and is Nlaka’pamux and Cree First Nations was quietly singing her ancestral songs. We were the only 2 on the back of the boat.
Suddenly, a spy hop!
At that moment, I knew they were coming.
Spyhop!
Shortly after the spyhop, some of the orcas started poking their head out of the water as if they were checking us out.
Orca whale in the Straight of Juan de Fuca near Race Rocks, about 17 km from Victoria, British Columbia.
I started to notice more surface activity but weren’t sure what the whales were up to. Then, we could see a harbour porpoise. They seemed more interested in playing with it than eating it as they would push it along and disappear with it under the water. The naturalist on board our Eagle Wings Tours boat thought that they were teaching the baby orca how to hunt. The truth is, he wasn’t sure, as he said that he had never seen anything like it before.
While the large male orca swam close to Eagle Wing tour’s other boat, my friend started to sing a little louder. I knew she was trying to communicate.
An orca shows us a belly roll.
Two orcas and a harbour porpoise.
Then, two orcas were straight out in front of us with their heads above the water looking towards us with the porpoise between them. It was as if to say ‘look what we have’.
The next moment they came towards us.
Two orcas show us their catch, a harbour porpoise.
As they got closer, I switched to video mode and captured the moment they swam under our boat, twice! I said hello and thanked them, out loud.
I thought they’d reappear on the other side of the boat, but instead they resurfaced on the same side that they started from, right beside us.
Orcas with Race Rocks in the background, about 17km from Victoria, British Columbia.
We saw humpback whales too, we think we saw 2 different ones. Humpback whale tail.
A humpback whale tail against a British Columbia sunset.
A beautiful sunset behind Trial Island, near Victoria, British Columbia
Every now and again I’d hear my friend say “kuk’stem” which is thank you in the Nlaka’pamux language. She was following Indigenous protocol in giving thanks to the whales and the Creator.
