Saturday, June 26, 2010

Living in paradise

One sight from my recent boat trip to the San Juans.



This is the view looking south east from the mouth of Reid Harbour (good name huh?) on Stuart Island.

I grew up in northern Manitoba, and like every landscape, it has its own beauty, but I never get over the combination here of ocean and snow-peaked mountain.


Or the forests that range from temperate rain to dry Mediterranean.

Here's some prickly pear cactus growing on Patos Island where we spent the first night. Cactus. Just a few metres above the Pacific Ocean.

Patos marks the northern limit of the American portion of an archipelago divided by the Canada-U.S. border (drawn in the water). On the Canadian side the chain continues and we call them the Gulf Islands. On the American side they are the San Juans.

The Spanish explorers Galiano and Valdez named this little island Isla de Patos in 1792. It means island of ducks. Coincidentally, I'm posting this in a hurry as I'm off to the Gulf Island Galiano. You can probably guess who that's named for.

But the most breath taking of all. Orcas leaping in the air just outside the marina at Point Roberts, Wash. You know when you see a killer whale breach within the first 20 minutes of the trip, it's going to be a good one.

2 comments:

Penelope Notes said...

Seeing whales leap out of the water is a thrill that is hard to describe. What an excellent shot of the Orca … you are, indeed, enjoying your new lens! :)

amy rubin flett said...

wow. wow wow wow... i'm so happy you had such a nice getaway... and so happy we get to go vicariously through your gorgeous photos! thank you once again.