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photo gallery > Landscapes - our home and native land (7)
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Race rocks and Olympic mountains
Click image for full size view. The backdrop is the American Olympic peninsula showing her glaciated peaks. Race rocks lighthouse stands in the foreground in a classic West coast scene that only gets more interesting as you inspect closer and closer... Yes it's as beautiful as it looks here -- well, maybe more so.
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Green Point
Click image for full size view. A shallow, sandy bay with some poorly placed mega homes on shore. Still, it's a beauty and quite different from anything on the Canadian side. On a "no whale day" I'll often venture the 23 miles from Victoria harbour in search of a resident gray whale that is more often than not found in the bay feeding on tiny crustaceans deep in the sandy bottom.
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Strait of Juan de Fuca
Click image for full size view. The Strait of Juan de Fuca is the principal outlet for the Georgia Strait and Puget Sound, connecting both to the Pacific Ocean. It provides part of the International Boundary between the United States and Canada. It was named in 1788 by the English Captain John Meares of the ship Felice for Juan de Fuca, the Greek sailor who claimed to have gone on a voyage with Spanish explorers in 1592 to seek the fabled Strait of Anián.
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stellrs-and-baker.jpg
Click image for full size view. Viewed here from Race Rocks (in Canada 9 miles from Victoria) Mount Baker (elevation 10,778 feet, 3,285 m) is a glaciated extinct volcanoe in Washington State in the United States about 30 mi (48 km) due east of the city of Bellingham, Whatcom County. After Mount Rainier, Baker is the most heavily glaciated of the Cascade volcanoes: the volume of snow and ice on Mount Baker (0.43 cubic miles, 1.8 cubic kilometers) is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes (except Rainier) combined. It is also one of the snowiest places in the world: in 1999, Mount Baker Ski Area, located on a subsidiary peak, set the world record for snowfall in a single season. -
Sun Dog at Race Rocks
Click image for full size view. In her history Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance, Jennifer Armstrong writes a description that reminds me not of Antarctica, but of the world just outside Victoria BC's terrestrial boundaries. Not every detail describes our environment here, but the spirit of the description captures our own wild coast's boisterous wildlife ensemble.
. . . All around them, too, were signs that the Antarctic winter was fast approaching: there were now twelve hours of darkness, and during the daylight hours petrels and terns fled toward the north. Skuas kept up a screeching clamor, and penguins on the move honked and brayed from the ice for miles around. Killer whales cruised the open leads, blowing spouts of icy spray. The tricks of the Antarctic atmosphere brought mock suns and green sunsets, and showers of jewel-colored ice crystals. -
sunset on Spiedon
Click image to view full size. Sunset on Spiedon's barren west side. Approximately two miles long and a half-mile across at its widest point, it is located directly north of San Juan Island across the Spieden Channel. The unusual climate of the area causes the island to be virtually barren on its south-facing side, while the north side is heavily forested. In the past the island was used for big game hunting; game animals were imported and a hotel, airport, and small hangar built to accommodate visitors. This no longer occurs due to the risk of shots carrying across to highly populated San Juan Island .The resident animal population still includes exotic animals such as Mouflon sheep from Corsica and Sika deer from Asia -
layer upon layer of life
Click image to view full size image. An intertidal garden frames this elephant seal portrait. Watching the animals come and go throughout the seasons, surrounded by layer after layer of ever changing flora and other fauna is a wonderful pastime.
