Tag Archives: travel

nature, Photography

Summer Idyll

Aug 15, 2024 Lynette d'Arty-Cross 14 Comments

A small beach on Okanagan Lake on a gorgeous summer day. There’s lots of room for a chair and a towel.

Happy Thursday.

nature, Photography

Summer Tranquility

Aug 14, 2024 Lynette d'Arty-Cross 23 Comments

From a recent hike in the Okanagan Highlands above Penticton, British Columbia.

Happy Wednesday.

nature, Photography

Inside Passage to Port Hardy, Part Two

Aug 12, 2024 Lynette d'Arty-Cross 22 Comments

You can read Part One here: https://lynettedartycross.com/2024/07/29/inside-passage-to-port-stanley-part-one/

On our return from Haida Gwaii which is off the northern coast of British Columbia, we took the ferry ship Northern Expedition through the Inside Passage to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island.

We had an incredibly smooth passage with one section through open water that was also an easy sail. One of the perks of summer sea travel!

The tranquility allowed the passengers to really enjoy the scenery while on the outside decks.

Although somewhat overcast, the temperature and weather were perfect.

The ship’s passage through the water made very gentle ripples.

We passed other vessels, especially small cruise ships, travelling north.

This one is called *Le Boreal,* a small cruiser with ice-breaking capabilities.

Exiting the Inside Passage and heading south toward the open ocean on the last leg of our journey to Vancouver Island.

There was a small amount of chop and the wind picked up a bit, but it certainly wasn’t rough.

We passed a scenic lighthouse as we neared Port Hardy.

Port Hardy is small but quite busy with commercial fishing boats, ferries, small cruise ships and many private vessels.

The B.C. ferry system is reliable, comfortable and clean. It’s an excellent mode for exploring British Columbia’s coastal waters as the scenery alone is definitely worth the trip. As I mentioned before, the one drawback is the onboard food services which aren’t great, but you can go a long way to rectifying that by bringing along your own in a cooler.

nature, Photography

British Columbia Summer Sampler

Aug 9, 2024 Lynette d'Arty-Cross 23 Comments

Isn’t summer grand?

Commentary, nature, Photography

If a Tree Falls in the Woods …

Aug 1, 2024 Lynette d'Arty-Cross

… can you count the rings?

While we were hiking on Haida Gwaii, we saw where a dead tree had fallen across the trail and the part blocking the path had been removed.

We tried counting the rings to see if we could get a sense of its age; as we got closer to the middle, the rings were very close together and it was difficult to tell exactly.

We were able to determine that at a minimum, there were 150 rings, so this tree was standing when Alexander Mackenzie was prime minister of Canada and Queen Victoria was still occupying the throne and would continue to do so for another 27 years. My grandparents hadn’t been born and my great-grandparents were teenagers! Such realisations always remind me to enjoy my life; after all, we’re not here for very long.

Comments are closed on this post because we have company coming. Happy August.

nature, Photography

Rainforest Scenes from Haida Gwaii

Jul 30, 2024 Lynette d'Arty-Cross 24 Comments

Rainforests are such interesting (and damp!) places. Here are a few photos of some of my favourites.

I wasn’t able to find out what type of mushrooms these are, but they remind me of mussel shells.

Wild honeysuckle. We saw a number of large honeysuckle bushes growing in the rainforest. There are also lots more growing in the village of Masset, so I’m not sure if wild ones have migrated to town or cultivated ones have migrated to the forest. Their scent was heavenly.

The underside of a large stump showing part of the intricate root system. We couldn’t find any evidence of the fallen tree, and maybe it has already been consumed by the forest, but it must have been very tall and large.

Moss and lichen have engulfed many of the lower limbs of this tree but the upper branches are more exposed to light and overall, the tree seems to be healthy.

I love this scene and find it very representative of how the rainforests on Haida Gwaii appear. But I also think that it could be in one of the Harry Potter books!

Happy Tuesday.

Commentary, nature, Photography

Inside Passage to Port Hardy, Part One

Jul 29, 2024 Lynette d'Arty-Cross 23 Comments

To return home from our visit to Haida Gwaii, we decided to take the 15 hour ferry trip through the Inside Passage from Prince Rupert to Port Stanley.

Our route is marked by red-circled numbers.

The passage is sparsely inhabited and quite narrow in places so we easily saw lots of bald eagles, hawks, a couple of bears, deer, and several dolphins. I was more interested in watching rather than taking pictures so the few that I did take weren’t great. The scenery was gorgeous, however, so I have lots of those photos!

Our seats at the front afforded fantastic views, although I have to admit that the ship movement provided a nice nap!

The water was the most amazing flat calm. It was a wonderful ride.

I stood outside for long periods just enjoying these spectacular views. This view also shows the wheelhouse on the right.

On this trip we took two round-trip ferries and then there was the 15 hour trip from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy (all with B.C. Ferries). We found all the vessels to be clean, comfortable and in good condition. On the other hand, the onboard meals offered were dry, overcooked, overpriced and ran heavily to hamburgers and other fast food, so for our 15 hour trip, we brought along a cooler and had our own snacks and sandwiches, something that seemed to be commonly done. Overall though, we found that B.C. Ferries were really quite good.

Happy Monday.