Telegraph Cove - Historic Side

 We've visited Telegraph Cove every year for the last 5 summers now, and looking back through our past posts it occurred to me that while we'd talked about people and animals of all sorts, we haven't actually shared that many pictures of the town itself. Compounding that, part of the town is very pretty and historical while part of it is a rather ugly motel, so we actually don't really have photographs of ALL of it, even after all these years. Below is a look down into the marina from the RV park where we usually camp out.

 A boardwalk runs around the edge of the cove along which the entire historical part of town is built up, with dock access in a few spots depending on which side your boat is moored on. The red building in the middle is the Old Saltery Pub which has very frequent salmon barbeques and does a pretty great seafood linguini as well.

 This is a view coming back into town from on one of the whale watching boats, and has a nice look at the Stubb's Island office and the Whale Interpretive Centre. The little houses nestled on the hillside are pretty charming and the great people and good times to be hand keep bringing us back year after year.

Northern Residents of Telegraph Cove

There are several distinct populations of orca in the waters of British Columbia, and the pods most common to the Telegraph Cove area belong to the Northern Residents. These orcas are specialized in eating chinook salmon, nearly to the exclusion of all other potential foods and are an iconic part of the landscape of northern Vancouver Island.

 They travel in pods between a pair to several dozen and like all orca, have a matriarchal society in which the sons stay with their mothers most of their life (according to a book we read last year, sons may spend up to 65% of their life within a body length of their mother). Since they must constantly come up for air, they can only let half of their brain sleep at atime, so they are commonly found in a resting formation where they travel along slowly and breathe frequently.

 When fully awake and active, their behaviour can be quite varied and exciting with all manner of spy hops (below), tail slaps, pectoral fin waves, breaches and vocalization. People only began seriously studying these animals in the 50s and the volume of information yet to be learned is huge, but with such striking and charismatic behaviour there should be no shortage of excited researchers and observers.

Family and Friends to be Thankful For

 With our health, happiness and loving marraige, we both have a lot to be thankful for. Most of that is difficult to express in a quick trio of photos, but we also had visits with dear family and friends this year which are much easier to summarize in a blogpost as people who most certainly help us through the years. Kathryn's parents shared a nice week with us earlier in the summer, allowing for some nice excursions from the city along with an overdue visit. They are an excellent example of how to be married for decades and still be very much in love.

 My cousin Simone and her husband Robbie were in town for a visit this summer as well, and we had a surreal crossover with them and my old friend Riley from Manitoba and the long long ago. It was really great to catch up with people I hadn't seen for years and pretty much pick up where we last left things off.

 Rounding out the summer, my dad came along with us to Telegraph Cove for some wildlife viewing and good company. As always, our friends at Stubbs Island Whale Watching were incredibly generous with their time and we had a dinner party/barbeque pretty much every night we were up there.

 

 There are many more dear people in our lives than we have quick reference photos of, but to everyone that is a part of our routine in Vancouver or elsewhere, thank you for being in our lives and we are no doubt past due for a proper visit.

Telegraph Cove Birds

 While the mammals are overwhelming in Telegraph Cove, there is a plethora of stunning birds to be seen if you can stop your head from spinning after all the cetaceans. There were a pair of peregrine falcons living along a nearby roadside which obliged us with a number of fly-bys. My dad was very quick on the draw and got this stunning photo with all the detail in the feathers and tack-sharp focus.

 Of course, some of the locals are more leisurely about having their photos taken like this great blue heron which was foraging along the entrance to the cove as our tour set out. While they are a common sight all along the coast of BC, we never tire of them or their primeval stature. Watch one of these for a few minutes and you'll have no problem believing that some dinosaurs eventually took to the air.

 While neither of us are big gull enthusiasts, my dad is quite the fan and his interest certainly makes them more of a draw. This California gull was perched helpfully on one of the pier pilings in the cove and there were dozens of others scattered around the area, just waiting to be scanned for rarities.