Updated : 2021-01-03 - Added panos that I forgot to export.
Not surprisingly, my last post for the year will be from Galiano. We spent a few of the last days of 2020 on the island, doing some work, relaxing and a bit of biking. It was a good way to wrap up the year.
We took an afternoon ferry over on Boxing Day, arriving after dark. So rather than trying to tackle anything, we headed straight for the cottages, settled in, made some dinner and had a relaxing evening. We were on the island through the 30th, and had some things we wanted to get done around the property. Sadly, the weather was not looking favorable for us.
We had a misty, overcast first day.
There are not a lot of pics from that first day. We spent the day working around the property, pulling and cutting broom, and trying to get ahead of things before the spring. The plan was to spend one day doing a bunch of burning, so today in the mist and rain we spent a lot of time cutting and pulling. It wasn’t a long day -as the rain picked up later in the day we called it early and headed back to the cottage to have a fire, get warmed up and have a nice evening.
The next day was supposed to be our one “nice” day. We didn’t get the sunshine we were promised, but it didn’t rain on us either. I was up relatively early and went over to the golf course to play a round. Sadly, it had rained so much over the last few days that the course was pretty much unplayable. I only made it through about 6 holes before I gave up.
In the winter, we get a lot more sea lions and other marine wildlife. We have been told about the sea lions that congregate at the northern tip of the island in Dionisio Point Provincial Park. We ride up there every once in a while, so we thought we’d get the bikes out and see what we could see.
Our ride and wanderings for the day.
Riding through the very green forests in Dionisio.
After we got up to the park, we spent some time wandering about.
The ride up was good. Neither of us had been on a bike in a while. We have had quite a bit of wind in the last few weeks, and that was borne out by the number of branches and trees down on the trails. We were stopping frequently to pull debris off the trails. It made the riding a bit less smooth, but it needed to be cleared out. We might need to go back and walk some of the trails with a chainsaw to take out some of the downed trees I couldn’t move by myself. A project for another day.
I shot a time lapse of the ride up so you can see the whole ride.
As soon as we got to the main beach area, we could see the sea lions (and hear them, and smell them…).
The first small group of sea lions we saw, right when we arrived.
We locked up the bikes and headed out onto the small spit of land right on the north tip of the island. It’s almost an island unto itself, as you can see from the above satellite photo, at the end of the crescent beaches. As soon as we headed out, you could hear a lot more sea lions out on the open ocean side of the island.
The day was spectacular, and we had amazing views across the Strait of Georgia.
The big guy on the rocks.
Most of the noise was coming from the males barking at each other.
After watching the group on the rocks for a while, we walked up the trail to the very northernmost tip of the island. There were even more of them here! The whole rock shelf along the tip of the island was covered with them. Sadly, there were also quite a few people in the park, and I think that it started to spook the sea lions. As we arrived, they started heading for the water.
Heading for the water…
There are so many colour variants among the different animals.
Black oystercatchers.
Portrait of a sea lion. After most of them jumped in, this one big guy stayed to hold the beach.
He didn’t seem too worried about us.
More oystercatchers
After heading back to the main beach, we grabbed our lunch and wandered to find a place to sit that wasn’t already full of people. It was surprising how busy it was, for the middle of winter. We walked down to a part of the park that neither of us had been to, which takes you past the site of a 1,500 year old midden. This park was once the site of a significant seasonal village, and you could certainly see why. Such an amazing location.
Our lunch spot.
Our sea lion sentry with Vancouver and the mountains in the background.
The view from the beach at Dionisio.
The rocks were covered in gulls!
After finishing our lunch, we made the long ride back home. It’s a bit of a slog, and we were pretty wiped by the time we got home and got our gear packed up. Still it was a good ride - ~20 km in all - and seeing the sea lions was so cool!
Before heading back to the cottages, we sat on the deck and watched for whales for a bit. We didn’t get whales at first, but did have some amazing views back across the Strait.
The far-off mountains looked amazing over the city.
Before too long, we did have some whale action. No orcas this time, but we did have some good humpback action! I managed to catch some (far away, small and grainy) breaching action from a couple of whales.
A big splash!
A longer breach sequence.
As the sun continued to set, we got some spectacular colour in the sky and on the mountains and the city. It was an amazing night, with all the fresh snow on the mountains.
After our ne beautiful day, the weather really turned for the worst. The next day was still OK - it rained on us, but we were able to spend the day burning all the broom we had cut previously. It was good to get that dealt with. Towards the end of the day the rain really started to come down, so we headed for “home”.
We were originally supposed to get an extra day of work in on the 30th and take the evening ferry home. But the rain looked so heavy that we changed plans and opted for the morning ferry, cutting our time a bit short. It just didn’t seem like being wet all day was going to be a lot of fun…
It was a good trip trip to wrap up what has been a pretty crappy year. I’m sure everyone is more than ready to see 2020 leave us for good, and here’s to 2021 being more interesting, with a lot less time stuck at home!
Updated 2021-01-03
