Darth Vader and an Octopus Swim into a Bar... Stop me if you've heard this one...

Here's a joke. Darth Vader and an Octopus Swim into a Bar... Stop me if you've heard this one...
And that's pretty much the joke because that's what Geordie and I ran into at SEA STAR WARS at the Vancouver Aquarium.  Every once in a while this venue pulls something quite clever from underneath the fat seal. This featured a custom made Scuba Darth Vadar suit complete with  light saber. It was really well done.  Lots of Death sea star puns and goodness.  It was narrated by Princee Leia.   Below Darth Vadar menaces us underwater.

Mr Vadar's spotter was of course a storm trooper. Whose skill in spotting exceeds his marksmenship.  Fantastic costumes all around.  A real crowd pleaser.

And there is Octavius a great big Pacific Gian Octopus (now deceased) using the Force to combat Scuba Darth Vadar.  Seems like a better plot than episode 1.  Octavius got too big for his regular tank so they plopped him into the great big one.  The white on his head is from bumping into the rocks and glass.  Octopussies are really curious and was really keen on Darth Vadar. 

Cathedral Grove

For shame. This has been lying in my post queue way to long. Sorry big, beautiful 600 year old trees. Yes, one of those guys was alive and well when Christopher Columbus was sailing across the ocean blue. That one below I believe.  This is Cathedral Grove which the highway from Nanaimo to Port Alberni and the Pacific Rim splits in half.  Its very accessible on both sides of the road.  It makes it crowded but what can you do.

There are only a few stands of these enourmous old growth trees left in British Columbia.  Most are not protected. These were logged once upon a time as many stumps still bear the marks of spring boards.  We are lucky that so many in this area were spared.  It is important to know that logging continues right next to these protected areas.  The surveyors are very good and preservering sightlines from highways.  Sometime walk off the number 1 highway west of Banff (don't get lost). Very quickly you will likely find yourself in either a block surveyed for cutting or the junk left behind.  All those little roads with the radio numbers are logging roads.

Its very intimidating to look up and find yourself unable to really make out the topds of the trees.  I think it would be cool to be a bird or a squirrel and be able to go from the forest floor to the canopy in seconds.  Oh that gives me a GoPro idea. I wander if I can attach one to a bow and arrow... Stand by for that!

The Polar Bear Swim

Alternate title: The stupidest thing we've ever done.  10,000 years ago the area was covered in ice.  Apparently it melted December 31, 2013.  Almost every year since Geordie and I moved to the English Bay area we have gone down to witness the annual January 1st Polar Bear Swim.  You can 'officially' sign up and there are relays and prizes but many people just go in unofficially.  The beach was particularily crowded this year as there was no rain and pretty decent cloud cover made for an air temperature of about 5-7 degrees.

George, Anne Kim and Ginna Berg and myself did the swim after alittle Dutch courage.  I was in first.  A fit of madness took me.  I made a point of not looking up the ocean temperature.  It was probably around 5-8 degrees Celsius. You can see there are lots of boats in the background. Mostly gawkers but the dragon boats and the cop boats are there to help if anyone gets into trouble.  Below we are screeching 'Oh My FECKING GAWD IT'S COLD!'.  Except for Ginna in her adorable swim cap who is just prancing in.

Now we are out and warming up and huddled together.  We scurried back to our apartment where we all piled in the shower and than had rum.  Our skin felt amazing and tingly after the feeling came back.  The next day we found that they had pulled a manky body some where up from English Bay in False Creek in one of the marinas.  

New Years Lanterns

New Year's Eve was lovely with a low key evening topped off by heading to the beach at English Bay where the tide was really low. We took with us some chinese lanterns that some friends of ours brought along.  You write wishes, or names of people you love or who want to wish something for on the paper.  Geordie and I wrote the names of people we had lost in recent years.

Then you unfurl the paper and light the flamable disc up.  You hold them as they expand with hot air.  Below Ginna and Travis have theirs almost fully ready for lift off.  Then they gently rise up into the night sky. It was their idea and it was a way of starting off the New Year that I have always wanted to do but never found the lanterns.

And off it goes.  These are biodegradable by the way. Some went straight up into the air while others got a cross breeze. The highest looked like teeny orange stars. Others had the same idea as us as we could see some lifting off from Canada Place on the otherside of downtown, Kitsilano and the East End of False Creek.  Aren't they pretty?