Wet Weather

Lots of rain lately. Here's what the strait looked like this afternoon from Saxe Point.

Glacial Grooves

Wherever the bedrock is visible on the coastline of Victoria you will see these large grooves gouged out of the rock. They were made by glaciers grinding across the rock as they flowed down to the ocean, about 15,000 years ago. I read up a little on ice ages today because it suddenly occurred to me that the planet has had great periods of temperature fluctuations in the past. There have been about a half dozen ice ages in the last couple of million years, times when it got very cold and much of the world was covered with ice and then it warmed up again, all without the benefit of our pollution. The scientists' best guess at this time is that these global temperature fluctuations were caused by cyclical wobbles in the earth's spin and orbit, possibly in conjunction with changes in the ocean currents due to the shifting of the continents. Apparently we are still in an ice age since the defining characteristic is that there are areas that are permanently covered with ice, though these are rapidly receding.

Moonrise

When the moon finally did escape the clouds enough to be seen it had not risen over the skyline like I imagined but much further south. Oh well, it was a nice way to spend an evening. I suspect the moon does rise over the skyline here but not perhaps until next spring.

Sunset Skyline

The reason I was out on Macaulay Point a few evenings ago was not to catch the sunset, although it is a good place to do that, but to catch that big harvest moon we had a few nights ago. I wanted to photograph it rising over the city,somewhere near the center of the photo above. As you can see, it's not there. I'll explain why in Monday's post.

Macaulay Point Sunset

Fleming Beach

Fleming beach is a small cove on the western side of Macaulay Point. It is protected by a breakwater and the small docks are used by sport fishermen.

Macaulay Point Sunset

I want to start using what photographers call the golden hour just before and after sunset and sunrise. I just came in from Macaulay Point in Esquimalt where I took the photo above. Here we are looking south towards the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula in neighboring Washington State, USA.

Fuchsias

As well as some lovely ocean views and a bit of forest, Saxe Point Park also has some well-tended flower beds and I couldn't resist these luscious fuchsias.

Looks Warm...

Looks warm...but it's not! The waters off Saxe Point are usually this clear blue. Apparently one of the reasons this area is popular with scuba divers is because the water is so clear. But in this area they always wear wet suits, as do surfers further up the coast on the famed Long Beach because though it looks warm and inviting, the North Pacific is a cold ocean. If your boat should tip over while you are out on the open water the cold will kill you in about 45 minutes.

Mushrooms?

We've had a couple of good rains now and the air has got that autumn sharpness so I thought I would check out the bush in Saxe Point Park to see if I could find any mushrooms to photograph. It seems I'm a little premature. No mushrooms were in sight. I suspect we need a few more rains and cooler weather. Saxe Point Park is beautiful even without mushrooms.

West Bay Walkway 4

The West Bay walkway is a great place to view the cruise ships moored at Ogden Point.

West Bay Walkway 3

This small balancing rock sculpture has been erected recently and, though I generally prefer my nature unmodified, I quite like it. It looks like a good wind would blow it over but that delicacy is part of its charm.

Saxe Point Park

Here's a favorite view of mine that I visited this afternoon - looking westward from Saxe Point Park.

Fleming Beach

On the western side of Macaulay Point is a small area known as Fleming Beach. It's a small bay protected by a breakwater and used as a boat launch by sport fishermen.

Thrift

Yesterday's photo was taken facing east. Here's the view facing west, towards Metchosin. The pink flowers somehow thriving in the gravel are known as Thrift and are often found along the seashore growing where no other plant can survive.Saxe Point is visible in the distance on the right and beyond that the Fisgard Lighthouse can be made out by the sharp-eyed.

---

@JoJo: This view is the answer to your question on yesterday's post.

Macaulay Point

The entrance to Victoria Harbour lies between two points, Ogden Point (where the cruise ships dock) marks the eastern side of the harbour entrance and Macaulay Point (above) marks the western side of the entrance. In the photo above we are looking at Macaulay Point from its western side. If we walked over the top of it we would see the harbour and the city spread out before us. I didn't go so far today because I got sidetracked by the rich profusion of Camas Lilies among the rocks.

Highrock Park

I've visited and photographed many of Victoria's Parks but I think Highrock is my favorite. A main reason is because it is close to where I live. But it also has an surprising number of environments in a very small area. There's some nice bits of Garry Oak Ecosystem but there is a little forest area as well, all this in a park you can walk across in ten minutes.

---

About a month ago I mentioned I was learning some new video edting software. I'm still learning, but here is my latest attempt - a montage of, you guessed it...Highrock Park. Come enjoy a three minute walk with me.

Camas 2

Yesterday photo of Camas is not a bad close-up but their real beauty for me is in their profusion and the photo above gives a better sense of that. I was up in Highrock Park again today and the Camas are really peaking.

Camas

Despite the subnormal temperatures this year and the cloudy skies, the Camas Lilies have once again spread their carpet of blue over the slopes of Highrock Park.

More Sea Blush

I wrote yesterday that, "the Sea Blush are painting the hillsides with broad splashes of pink..." but the Sea Blush photo I posted doesn't capture that well so here's another photo of the Sea Blush on the slopes of Highrock Park where you can see how they grow in beds where the glacial grooves in the rock have gathered a little soil. Highrock Park is basically just a huge rock with only the shallowest pockets of soil in these grooves. The green in the foreground of the above photo is moss that clings to the bare rock beneath. Over the next few weeks the pink of the Sea Blush will be replaced by the blue of Camas Lilies that grow in the same grooves.