Looking at the local paper’s website, I see that what I spotted the other morning must have been a pod of dolphins, not porpoises. This article identifies the mammals as Pacific white-sided dolphins and quotes a local marine mammal scientist who confirms that it’s the first time they’ve been seen so close by, although they’re common in the Strait of Georgia.
In other “what I saw” news, we currently have the TFS cargo ship, New Century 1 anchored just in front of us. When I wondered out loud about where it had traveled from, Pater suggested I Google it, and I was pleased to find this report on a new-to-me website, The Travels of Tug 44. Apparently, this cargo ship is the world’s largest car carrier, able to carry 6000 cars at 20 knots.
My Dad was a merchant marine for ten years from about 1942-52, shipping out at not-quite-sixteen (can you imagine?) from Middlesborough, England, popping home for visits every few few months until he met my mom and settled down thousands of miles from home. Lately, with piracy in the news, I’ve been wishing I could ask him if there were any incidents of pirates threatening cargo ships he was on. So many stories left untold . . .
Oh what a grand view and a grand ship. Our biggest boats are a mere fraction of that, the same applies to the expansiveness of the view of course.
Ah, I occasionally wonder about the untold stories as well, all too late to ask. I sometimes regret the things I never really paid close enough attention too — the stories of my grandfather who was a seaman in the Pacific before WWI and during the war, and of course the tales my great grandfather could have told of his travels as a seaman before he settled down at the end of the previous century.
On a couple of occasions I did try to talk to my father about his youth, for instance he say’s he once travelled up to Liverpool to see the Beatles in an old van. He later turned out to be such a consummate liar it was hard to disentangle fact from fiction!
LOVE the new red bag, what colour is the lining?
Your garden always looks so much more colourful than mine, I may cheat and take photographs of mine with my macro lens, that will lend it some glamour!
I went for frogs rather than fish, we have too many Herons for fish plus I love watching the tadpoles grow.
Did you find a place to stay in London? How long are you staying? Let me know if you have time for a coffee…or something stronger!!
Nice photos you have here.;D
Looking forward on your new post.Hoe is your Easter?;D Have a great week.
Cool post!
Zach
Mardel: I’m sure your grandfather and great-grand would have had some entertaining tales — with that heritage, it’s perhaps not surprising you ended up on the water.
IndigoAl: But was he an interesting consummate liar?! Sometimes that makes it forgivable, at least somewhat.
I would have loved frogs, but got the fish too quickly and then apparently the two are incompatible (since the fish would eat the tadpoles, I guess).
The bag’s got a bland beige lining — too bag, except that it’s a magic material that keeps the whole thing surprisingly lightweight, which I love.
And yes, we should have coffee or, preferably, something stronger!!
Summer: Easter was quiet here, but pleasant and restful. Hope you had a good weekend as well.
Zach: Isn’t that cool! I wish you’d been here to see the dolphins — a first for our bay! We’ve had the otters playing quite a bit lately — you’d enjoy watching them.