Travel

    I recently got back from a great vacation in my home country. As you can tell from my travel links, normally I love to travel to remote and exotic destinations. However this time I decided to do something closer to home.
My friend Jill and I spent one week travelling around Vancouver Island. We set aside that week a long time ago, but we hadn't planned much at all. Ok, actually we didn't plan anything except that Jill was going to pick me up at Vancouver Airport.
We decided to head to Vancouver Island so we drove from the airport to the ferry. When we arrived on the island we decided to look for a hotel in Sidney since we wanted to do the gardens in the morning. However we found out that all the hotels were full and that people were being sent to Sidney from Victoria since Victoria was "full".
I want to thank the people at Travelodge who were very helpful and gave us the phone number and a map to Thunderbird motel in Duncan which did have availability. It was an hour drive away, but since it was getting late (around 9:30pm, we decided to take it and do Victoria later rather than trying to find something closer).
Since we were already heading North we decided to go to Tofino and this time we called ahead. We found the tourist info number for Tofino and called them, they have a listing of all the accomodation which has availability for that night. They gave us three numbers and we decided to go with The Lost Sailor Bed and Breakfast because they sounded really friendly and because they had a suite with two beds. The Tofino severe water shortage didn't occur until the week after, when we were there they asked us not to use the Jakuzi, but other than that there were no water restrictions. It was a beautiful place and they were very helpful giving us information on activities nearby.
We headed into town and signed up with Remote Passages for an afternoon of sea kayaking and an informative walk on Meares Island. We had an excellent guide, Scott, who knew a lot about the region, and gave us lots of information about Clayoquot Sound issues and the local flora. He kept telling us stuff about what was edible. We saw trees that were thousands of years old, and saw Bald Eagles and Herons. We also saw a seal in the distance, but it was so far away it could have been a plastic bottle for all I could see.
The next morning we got up early and went bear watching. Ok, now some of you are probably wondering why we paid to see bears, but it was fun, and it was a great opportunity for photography. I brought my telephoto lens and got some shots of the bears. We saw a male bear on one beach, and a mother bear with her cub on another. The good thing about being in a boat is that you can get close without putting yourself in danger.

We had to wear these bright orange survival suits. At first they felt like overkill, but when we were zipping along on the Zodiac, it was really windy so I was glad to be in the suit. Taking photos was a bit of a challenge due to the low light and the need for higher speeds since it is very difficult to keep a camera steady when you are in a boat!
Then we decided to head to the information centre to find out more and to check out the Pacific National Rim Park. We were hoping for a hiking trail, but everything was pretty short, only 1 or 2km. Then we called SeaSmoke and decided to go whale watching with them.
We drove back along highway 4 to the main road, stopping at Cathedral Grove along the way to see some more tall trees. I found the root systems facinating and Jill joked that I would get home and have way too many pictures of driftwood and upturned roots.
Again, we knew to call ahead, and we were very lucky to find the fabulous SeeView Bed and Breakfast run by Dawn in Port McNeil. Dawn was extremmely friendly and helpful getting us organized for the next few days. We decided to stay for a few days and check out the Northern part of Vancouver Island.
Breakfasts at Dawn's were amazing, every day we got something different and filled us up so we didn't need much lunch. The next morning we went to visit Telegraph Cove which is a small harbour used mostly for fishing trips. However there was also lots of information about the early days in Telegraph Cove and an interesting Whale museum. We also chatted with North Island Kayak about a possible day trip or overnight trip.
That afternoon we headed to "Alder Bay". Jill and I found it quite funny that they called the RV camp at Alder Bay a "Resort" since it was mostly just a parking lot. To me it isn't really a resort if you have to provide your own accomodation and there is no spa with massage therapists.

The boat was a little late, but we were told to expect that since the weather is a factor, especially for a sail boat. There was not enough wind for a sail, which was a shame, but it was still lovely to sit on the deck of a boat and relax while watching for the spumes of whale breath (i.e. Sea Smoke).
Maureen brought out some freshly baked muffins and tea to start the trip, which were very yummy. We heard that the orcas were further out, but that they might turn around and head towards us. Instead, we got to see several humpback whales. Even though they are huge, you only get to see their backs and tails. Maureen and Jared told us that there was a mother and baby, however to us the tails all looked the same size. One came really close to the boat and we even got to smell the SeaSmoke (not a nice smell, I can tell you). Later on the trip, Maureen baked scones and we had warm scones with strawberry jam and cream. Very delicious. After viewing the Humpbacks for a while we headed to some smaller bays where we saw more Bald Eagles (even some young ones), and many Harbour Seals.
It was a bit disappointing that we didn't see Orcas, but then it is nature, so you can't really predict these things. If whale watching was predictable then it wouldn't really be the same. Overall, it was a great way to see whales, and I recommend Sea Smoke highly.
Jill and I decided to do the overnight with North Island Kayak for the Thursday/Friday. We figured that we had enough warm clothes and that we could borrow paddling jackets from the company.
The next day we headed out to "Alert Bay" on Cormorant Island which is just a short ferry ride from Port McNeil. We started off at the information centre and got a great overview of the town from the helpful woman there. There are only a few ferries each day so we had to plan our day around that. We went to the U'Mista Cultural Centre where we saw many of the Potlatch masks which had been wrongly taken by the government in the 1920's. At least they were safely stored and have now been returned to the Kwakwaka'wakw from which they were taken. Did you know that there are a large number of first nations in BC?

For the afternoon we headed to Sointula and went on the Beautiful Bay Trail which is a 10km hike. At first we thought it was 2.5 hours round-trip, but later we realized it was 5 hours roundtrip, mostly because of all the ups and downs and large number of stairs. My ankle was bothering me a bit at the beginning, and by the end it was really sore. Very strange since I hadn't sprained it or anything.
That night we were pretty tired and just ordered a pizza which we ate at Dawn's.
The next morning we got up for our Sea Kayaking trip, but I think this post is long enough so I will save that for later.

    My Travel Photography class had our second field trip. This time we went to Kensington Market. I wasn't feeling great and I really didn't like the location very much. Maybe I just don't find Toronto as interesting compared to the other places I have been. Also were not that many stores open or many people around.
We worked on different compositional techniques:

Selective focus

Dominant foreground, contributing background

Controlled depth of field

Introducing disorder into order (green onions diff shape than all the rest)

Texture

Other photos:

    Check out this cool Tibetan Vlog

There are even more Tibetan vlogs if you check out his previous posts