My Ocean Void Finally Filled (2)

Our Destination for the week consisted of sailing through the Gulf Islands in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of British Columbia. 

The first day, we sailed to Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island. This bay is well known because of its access to the Butchart Gardens. This Garden is National Historic Site of Canada due to its international popularity. The uniqueness of this garden, is that it was an old Limestone quarry that was turned into a sunken garden. The Wikipedia site gives a great overview of the history and development of the garden.

In order to get to the gardens from our boat, we had to stern tie our sail boat to a tree and then commute in a dingy to the dock of Butchart Gardens. A Stern Tie is when you go to shore and tie your boat to a tree or something sturdy in order to prevent your boat from moving too much with the tides. With a Stern Tie it is also necessary to anchor your boat.  

Our Stern Tie (photo taken by me)

A portion from Butchart Gardens (Photo taken by me)

This garden was beautiful, but I have never been interested in gardens so I found it slightly boring. The excitement on this day consisted of what I saw in the water at the dock of the gardens. On the side of the dock was a vast amount of water life. There were many Star Fish, which seemed to be a dime a dozen on this trip. However there were two new things that I saw here at the dock of the Butchart Gardens. On the side of the dock was a giant crab! We were able to pull him off the side of the dock and escape his angry claws in order to get a few photos before we gently put him back. Along with seeing the crab, there were tons of Jelly Fish floating around near the dock. 

Mr. Crab that we pulled from the dock

With further investigation, I have learned that the Jellyfish we saw at the dock of the Butchart Gardens was the Moon Jellyfish. Now I know that they are safe to hold because they can not sting humans, but at the time  I did not know that. So I did nothing more than poke the top of one, which felt like what I assume a silicone breast implant might feel like! 

Moon Jellyfish (Photo taken by me)

This was only day two of our trip and things got more and more exciting as the week went by. I will share my journey with you, as I consider it a one in a life time experience that I will be LUCKY to repeat in my lifetime.