Travelogue No. 9 - Vancouver, whale watching

TRAVELOGUE NO. 9
PACIFIC COASTAL CRUISE LOS ANGELES TO VANCOUVER
SUNDAY, May 16, 2010
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

Because our whale watching excursion was not until 12:00 noon, we were able to enjoy a leisurely morning and a nice cup of Starbucks and a blueberry muffin for breakfast before we caught a cab over to Granville Island where we would go to Wild Whales and depart on our adventure in search of those “black and whites”.

Granville Island has a fabulous Public Market, very similar in concept to Pikes Place Market in Seattle. There are fruit stands piled high with fresh vegetables. The red, orange, yellow and green bell peppers alongside the thin, fresh asparagus and huge (5”) artichokes and gigantic red and green grapes filled the counters of the vegetable and fruit stands. The fish counters were filled of king crab legs and fresh salmon along with other local varieties of fish that had been brought to the market in the morning. We found our favorite deli stand and purchased our sandwiches to take out on our excursion. We found our favorite deli counter where we bought our sandwiches for our afternoon excursion and then we set out to go explore the market a bit before we boarded the Quick Change II, whale watching vessel.

Our tour guide, Caley, along with our driver greeted us as we boarded the covered whale-watching boat. Caley was about 25 years old and though it appeared that she had a full head of hair in dread-locks, she had them tied up in a scarf around her head. She had a small nose, hazel eyes and a beautiful smile. She is had a small frame and seemed genuinely happy that we had all chosen to be with her on this exploration for go find the whales.

We took off out of the harbor at Granville Island and passed under the Granville Island Bridge and out into the Strait of Georgia, which is the main route of the Alaska Marine Highway. We passed many tankers and tug boats on our way heading south west to the Gulf Islands. As we reached Porlier Pass and Galiano Island, we passed the small white and red Grace Point Lighthouse. The base of the lighthouse is wider than the top. It had four sides that were trimmed in bright red paint and then the lighthouse lens was on top. On top of the lens proudly were two bald eagles proudly perched as if they were greeting us as we entered the Trincomali Pass heading south.

The skies above became more gray with thicker clouds, that eventually gave us a fine, misty rain as we passed through the narrow passageway of the Pender Islands. We had been in the boat about three hours at this point and still had no sightings of any whales. The scenery was breathtaking; and as is true after most rains, the smell of the freshened forest and trees was noticeable and refreshing.

Unfortunately, those black and white orcas remained silent and elusive; and we never found them. We did see a few dolphins as we headed back out into the Strait of Georgia heading back to Vancouver. As we reached the breakwater, we saw some California sea lions and stellar sea lions basking on the rocks of the breakwater. A couple of them were lifting their bodies and stretching high and barking loudly as we passed by. The staff at Wild Whales graciously issued all of us a “free” pass to come back another time (no expiration date) to see the whales – so we will tuck that away in a safe place and look forward to doing that sometime in the future.

Realization eventually set in that in only 12 hours we would be heading to the airport for our trek home – so we decided to have a nice, quiet dinner at the Sea Wall Restaurant in the lobby of the Westin Bayshore. We had a window table and were among only half a dozen or so, groups of people in the restaurant – so it was quiet and peaceful as the sun set on another beautiful Vancouver day.

And, so it ends my friends – our trip is over – I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along with us on our journey and hope you have enjoyed the trip with us. We’ll be heading out again on June 30th this year as we will go visit Alaska on a three day cruise from Vancouver to Skagway visiting Tracy Arm Fjord and the Twin Sawyer Glaciers and Juneau before we reach Skagway. From Skagway, we will leave the ship and go on a 10 day land tour up to the Yukon, Dawson, Tok, Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage. Till then…safe travels to you all!