Leafy Orcas

Surfing the crest of a grassy aquamarine wave, these two Orcas, mother and calf, are swimming on the corner of Government and Humboldt Streets by the Empress Hotel.

Nice Bike Rack

The art of the Native Peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast is world famous and of course we have lots of it around here but I thought this was an especially nice modern example of it on a bike rack at Fisherman's Wharf. I don't know who did the Orca design but it is very attractive.

Orca (Orcinus orca)

Part of the ferry route from Victoria to Vancouver goes through a narrow pass between two of the Gulf Islands. It's called Active Pass and is a good place to see some of the local wildlife such as seals and various seabirds. And if you're lucky, you may see some of the local Orca or Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) like I did on my recent trip. There were about a dozen in this pod though there were seldom more than three or four visible on the surface at any one time. In the photo below you can see one of them is breaching and spouting while a whale-watching boat follows at a discreet distance.

On the Back of a Whale

A fairly common form of public art these days is paintings on the exteriors of animal sculptures distributed around the city. I don't know enough about urban politics or art to understand why this has become popular. Perhaps someone can explain it. Victoria's animal choice is the Orca or killer whale and the people in the painting above are on the back of the whale in front of Victoria Visitors Information Centre. Whatever the rationale for this installation I am happy to see so much colour in this season's gray streets. (Added later: click here to see a bunch of urban cows in Madrid.)

I suspect the Orca has been chosen because whale-watching is a popular tourist pastime here. Victoria is one of the few cities in the world where you can view whales in their natural habitat within a half an hour from the Inner Harbour. There are about 15 pods of Orca that live in the area and numerous whale-watching excursions available year round.