Vancouver Aquarium – July visit with friends from Alaska
Beluga whale showing the tail flukes, at Vancouver Aquarium – photo Todd Wong
It seems strange to take friends from Alaska to go see beluga whales at
the Vancouver Aquarium – but that is what we did. My girlfriend's
cousin was visiting Vancouver with her son, so off to the Aquarium we
went. Sue and Harrison call Anchorage Alaska home. We put
a special Alaskan context on our personally guided tour and
introduced them to the sea otters that came from Prince William Sound
after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. We showed them the displays
highlighting the sea life from nearby Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte
Islands).
Harrison watching the beluga whales at Vancouver Aquarium, under water viewing gallery – photo Todd Wong
I have always loved visiting the aquarium since I was a
small child in the 1960's. My father would take us even before
Skanna the killer whale was there, in the BC Tel pool – tiny by today's
standards. We even have home movie footage of the killer whale
that was trapped and put on display by fishermen in Pender Harbour in
the late 1960's. I believe that this was the start of the
learning curve about orcas in BC. My brother grew up studying
marine biology, and later supervised the wardenship program for the
Michael Biggs / Robson Bight wilderness refuge area for the orcas near
Telegraph Cove, BC.
The more we can understand and appreciate marine sea life and our BC
coast, the more I believe, that we will become better stewards and
protectors of the environment and the fragile eco-systems of our
planet. I feel that I have been blessed to witness sea otters,
killer whales, dophins and even Grey whales in their natural
environment on the Vancouver Island waters.
