Oh, the Places You Will Go: Victoria, Day 2

Hello, everyone! Alright. Day 2 of Victoria.

(photos by me and Alyssa)

So the whole first half of day 2 was just us at the Royal BC Museum. We watched an IMAX movie about space travel and what NASA's plans are, etc. It was really cool. I learned a lot, and was just amazed at science and space and SCIENCE.

We saw a lot of other stuff at the museum but the highlights would be as follows (not arranged in any particular order) (I totally forgot to take pictures inside. Sorry.)

• the natural history galleries with life size displays of the ecosystems of BC. 
• the animals at the natural history galleries
• the little enclosed booth on the third floor with speakers in a dome playing indigenous lullabies (didn't get to read the description, so I didn't get to check what groups they came from. Sorry)
• the whole gallery about the aboriginal peoples of BC (!!!)
• particularly the one about how they hunt/catch food
• the whole section on the third floor about the modern history of BC. It was just a depiction of life in BC in the 1880's to 1920's called the "Old Town," a full scale display of Victoria in those times, complete with dress shops and a letterpress workshop, a home, a silent film theatre, etc. it was AWESOME.

*insert sea lion sounds here*

Afterwards, we had a quick break for lunch and then, WHALE WATCHING.

Oh, man, you guys. Whale watching was so much fun. Forreals. If you guys get a chance please go. 

We went with Eagle Wing Tours and it was a three hour trip out to sea. They took us out to Race Rocks by a light house to sea (huehue) the sea lions and do you see how many of them there are!?!?!? SO GREAT. And then we kept going and found a sea otter; apparently sea otters are extremely elusive. One of our guides has been doing these tours for 12 years and that was only the fifth one he's seen. It was really hard to get a photo of it since it was camouflaged along kelp and too far away. But we saw it.

Hey, Migs.

We kept going and looked for a humpback whale and after riding along for about 20 minutes we found one. We stayed with it for a while and watched it just spew water (for breathing) on the surface and dive back down every few minutes. Granted, we only saw its tail and back, but it was still really cool. I wanted it to do the thing where it does a bit of a flip out of the water. It didn't. But still cool.

Hey, Ate

ORCAAAAAAS

After a while, it was time to look for the orcas. And oh man. The orcas. We found big group of orcas, one that the guides guessed were two pods hunting together. There was probably about 10 of them or so and it was so awesome to just be there with them. We probably followed/stayed with them for about an hour. We saw them hunt a fish. It was cool. 

*insert My Heart Will Go On* Hey, Alyssa.

Overall, we got really lucky with that ride that day. Barely any waves, perfect sunny weather, a sighting of 2 orca pods when they usually travel in 1, the sea lions were great, we found a sea otter... It was just great. I highly highly recommend it.

At the hotel.

Day 2 was a lot of fun, very educational, and calming. It was just good experiences all over. And just like the day before, after a long day, we came to our hotel to find this. Victoria, man. You were just so good to us.

Happy Thursday,
Patty