August is almost over! Commonly known as ‘Fogust’ by locals, I thought it would be fun to put together a mini album capturing a few of our foggy days. Every day this past August, without fail, it rolled on in, in one shape or another. Some days just creeping along the horizon, never quite reaching us. Other days coming right on in for a visit and settling in for the entire day, keeping visibility to a minimum and temps cool – to the chagrin of many 
The most interesting thing I learned about fog this month? straight from Wikipedia – “A recently-discovered source of condensation nuclei for coastal fog is kelp. Researchers have found that under stress (intense sunlight, strong evaporation, etc.), kelp release particles of iodine which in turn become nuclei for condensation of water vapor.” – Kelp causes fog? Now that’s crazy!
Fogust
August 30th, 2011
Touring another world…tidepool adventures
June 29th, 2011The cold, clean waters in the oceans surrounding Vancouver Island, provide the greatest diversity of Marine life in North America, “second only to the Red Sea”, according to Jacques Cousteau!
Of course the best way to explore the amazing variety of marine life around us would be to don a wetsuit and hop on in for a dive. However, there is an easier method to view our fantastic sea life, that we at Rainforest Tours happily and frequently engage in – and that’s exploring tidepools. Something that involves very little immersion into the cold ocean – if any at all.
The sheer amount and diversity abundant in this regions tidepools is astounding. Nudibranches, sponges, seastars, sculpins, seaweeds, anemones, urchins - the list of amazing life we see at our fingertips is endless.
From cloning anemone colonies to kelp that can grow over 5 feet in just one day – there is so much hiding in tidepools that it really is easy to spend an entire day just staring into these magical pools. The longer you look, the more you see. A kelp crab so well disguised that although he is sitting just inches blow your nose in a pool, you would never have noticed him if he didn’t suddenly shoot a claw out looking for a tasty morsel, large gumboot chittons that look like 20 inch rubber stones moving slowly along the shore, walls of seaweed throwing off blue and green iridescents, a giant green and lumniscent anemone hogging the entire bottom of a deep round pool…it’s all magical.
You’ll just have to come see for yourself!
Rainforest Tours’ new stop along the way
April 21st, 2011Rainforest Tours is always on a search for special places to explore and bring our guests to visit. Although we now know this area quite well it’s amazing how many new places we keep getting introduced to – places that we have passed by many many times and never thought to look closer at. A few weeks ago a friend mentioned one such place. A small point along the road to the Juan de Fuca marine Trail. Apparently a good spot to watch a sunset. So with some directions I decided to venture out and explore.
Upon arriving I fell instantly in love with this spot - and couldn’t believe that I have driven right past it hundreds of times! Its a small point called Otter Point, located only minutes from the community of Sooke, and it is without doubt a gorgeous and wild view point. The ocean always seems quite turbulent here, the Olympic Mountain range is close, bald eagles and sea lions are numerous, and I’m sure if whales were passing by you would see them without any difficulty. The rock formations are stunning and the trees have all been pushed and mishapen by the wind….and the wind! I haven’t been there yet when the wind hasn’t been stronger than _____ (will let you fill in the blank). There is a small picnic table attached to some rocky bluffs quite high up over the ocean that I have quite literally had to hug, to keep from getting blown off the sides of the rocky bluffs. I have also hugged windswept trees, small pockets of shelter in the rocks and the stone faces for the same reason. I gave up trying to set up a tripod for photos a few visits back. I also have a perpetually runny nose and cold fingers and toes from visiting this place – it really just may be the cause of my demise :)
In summary, it is a perfect stop over for guests heading up to hike along the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail and I am eager to bring our first guests here for some breath taking views magical ocean air.
Apologize for the lack of photos, just the one of my dog checking to see that I was still attached to the rocks. Anyone with images or stories of Otter Point, please don’t hesitate to post!!
next post : a rather unusual tour….
A mini storm watching adventure.
March 4th, 2011Although our local forecasters miscalled for hurricane strength winds a few days ago, it still ended up being a fun wave watching adventure for a few of us locals. We drove along the Juan de Fuca Marine route, stopping wherever it looked like a good place to stop. saw lots of waves, rainbows, bald eagles and a really fast elk. Here’s a few pics from Jordan River and Botanical Beach.
Snow Day
February 23rd, 2011They do happen every now and again here in Lotus Land. They are always unexpected and they are always an adventure. Today we woke up to at least a foot of snow and it was still coming down heavily with no signs of letting up. No school for the kids, and then listening to the radio for further cancellations. It quickly became a day of play – what else to do when the roads to everywhere else are closed? snowball fights, snowman, and shared tales of snow adventures from all over the island. Answered some work related emails, had a friend (the talented individual who put together our marvelous website) crawl down my driveway under the weight of snow heavy trees, just to help me download a program, and that was it for work. Spent the afternoon exploring my own backyard, which had become a different world overnight. Spent hours stalking hummingbirds, owls and deer around my property. I am quite sure this was far more entertaining for me than it was for them. Our Rufous hummingbirds are here year round and spend far more time squabbling then eating. It’s a delight to watch their antics. The barred owl, known for its lack of inhibition, sat in a tree in my yard and slept. I sang, danced and threw snowballs at it….to no avail. Finally I fell through a chair I had been standing on, landed on by butt in the snow, yelled a bit about it, and the owl opened it’s eyes – a little. A reaction none the less : ) Next I chased about 10 of our resident deer through the woods behind my house. They were not pleased with me but were extra happy when I left them alone. All in all a fun snow day. Please readers share your snow tales, us in lotusland would love to hear them!
Canada’s Gnarliest Tree – Save the Avatar Grove
January 31st, 2011The following is a short video about a special grove of trees here on Vancouver Island. Well worth the visit, and if you could take the time to sign the petition then hopefully we will be able to continue visiting these amazing giants!
petition: http://www.ancientforestpetition.com
Touring from our guest’s perspective
December 8th, 2010It has now been a few months of gray, wet days and many are beginning to feel some winter restlessness (I know I am!). To counteract this I think it’s time to relive some past tours. Hopefully this takes some of the edge off : )
I’ve added a number of images taken by five of our guests from separate tours. We always love to see these familiar places from our guest’s point of view, as they tend to see so many of those things that our own eyes pass over, due to familiarity. Thank you Mark, Rebecca, Cathrine, Jan, and Rachel for the photos!
Enjoy!
hiking at Parkinson Creek with Mr. Discover Sooke
October 22nd, 2010“a photographer’s paradise”
September 17th, 2010
In the last few weeks fall has returned to this coast with decisiveness. The temperature has dropped, leaves are changing and quickly covering the forest floors, and of course – the rains have returned. This summer was an amazing time to guide, as the temperatures were perfectly mild and the entire season remained quite dry. So much so, that occasionally it didn’t even feel like rainforest we were trekking through. I openly admit that last week when the weather changed we experienced a little anxiety about how well we would fare in the wet weather. Where would we find a dry spot for lunch? How would we ensure guests cameras remain dry and safe? How will our guests do slogging through muddy trails? Of course when it came down to it, there was no basis for any anxiety on our part. The rain resulted in a lush greenness we haven’t seen for months, the skies always seemed to clear long enough for a lunch break, the ponchos we provide do a fine job keeping cameras dry, and most importantly, all of our guests have had a wonderful adventure – possibly even more so as a result of the unpredictable weather!
Although every guest we have had this season has brought along a camera, a strange thing happened last week – we had three consecutive tours with some serious photographers. For myself this was a fantastic experience. I thoroughly enjoyed showing off the sights and both watching and learning from these guests. The days we spent walking, stopping and photographing were a delight. Many times we heard “oh, I must be driving you guys nuts stopping all the time”. Not a chance, what better way to explore! The attached photos are a few we managed to snap (with a little point & shoot) of a few of our guests shooting, gray skies and all. In the next while we hope to post some of the resulting efforts from our guests….stay tuned!
Our favorite hike. shhh….don’t tell anyone :)
August 23rd, 2010Although we are not supposed to be biased I think we have a hike we are especially partial to. The 10 km stretch from Parkinson to Botanical Beach is seriously amazing, and we seem to end up there A LOT…shhh, don’t tell anyone : )
