Oak Bay Marina

The first two pictures are of the same shot I just cropped it so you could see the blue heron better. I actually have the man in the little boat to thank for the photo. His coming around the rocks startled the birds and I just happened to snap as the blue heron was taking flight. I would have loved to have been closer but I don't think one should infringe on the rights of wildlife.


The next two shows one of the seals that hangs about Oak Bay Marina. I know it looks as though I'm taking pictures within a marine park or something but I'm not. There's four seals that hang about the marina waiting for tourists to feed them. It's a difficult issue because no one has trained the seals they just learned on their own that if they act cute they'll get free fish without all the hassle of trying to catch it themselves.

Oak Bay Marina used to have a whale pool. It was the most horrendous sight I have ever seen. They had 3 whales, Tillicum, Haida and Nuka, living in a pool that was maybe three times their body length. I went there with two students and I'm telling you it was the hardest thing ever not to cry in front of them. I was so angry and appalled. The owners weren't even pretending to try and make an environment suitable for them. Thank goodness they have since closed it down. That place was a definite black mark against Victoria.

We went to the whale pool because they had worked on writing a book called, "Monster Goes to Sealand!" The book was fashioned after the monster series a fabulous series written for children with reading difficulties.

I dug out the book and even all these years later I still think they did a fabulous job.