Maritime Oddies of Chuo City

Chuo is one of the five special wards of Tokyo, with a resident population of 170,000 that swells to 650,000 due to the influx of daytime workers. With its proximity to the ocean and canals in use since the 1650s, Chuo has a rich maritime history, which helps contextualize our handful of unusual discoveries along the Takeshiba pier.

 The Passenger Ship Terminal is a departure point for Izu and Ogasaware islands, with an overarching nautical theme, including this mast and rigging surrounded by walkways and elevated trains. A variety of sparrows and crows made for good nature sightings in the area as we warmed up for our day's walk.

 

Maintaining tidal and rainfall water levels steady since 1970, the Hama-rikyu drainage pump station is one of 4 key water management facilities and also totally looks like something out of Dune.

For those of you wondering what a Japanese nightclub owned by Jules Verne would have looked like (you know who you are) we have great news! The 'Hotaluna' is the second of three vessels designed by anime creator Leiji Matsumoto (note to my mum - he ALSO created "Albator" which I used to watch on the French channel in the 1980s - small world) which can carry up to 120 passengers for cruises around Tokyo harbour.

Droning on about perspective

DJI have been making increasingly impressive consumer drones for years, and I have been promising myself one ever since I finished my degree a few years back. I finally got one this spring with the announcement of the Mavic Mini, which weighs a ridiculous 249g including the battery and memory card. Once unfolded and configured, this little drone can fly for up to 30 minutes and easily reach the legal Canadian recreational airspace ceiling of 100m (the app automatically caps altitude, so its easy to safely stay within the limit).

While this little marvel can shoot video and race around at ludicrous speeds, my primary interest in getting one has been to expand the possible results of stereographic photography.

For those of you that aren't as nerdy on the terminology as me, stereographic photography is the end result of shooting 360° panoramas and then re-projecting the image to make a "little planet." I've been shooting these for nearly a decade and think they are really cool, but find that sometimes they over-emphasize the immediate foreground to the detriment of the horizon.

This is entirely understandable since my camera is usually 5.5 feet up and, therefore, there is quite a bit of immediate ground in that perspective. The image below is from the Langdale Ferry Terminal and was shot with my usual fisheye technique.

In contrast, the image below was shot in the exact same spot but from the Mavic Mini at a height of around 80 meters. Not only are the beach and tide line a much smaller proportion of the overall composition, but you can see the islands behind the ferry and terminal as well as the mountains beyond the trees.

DJI has done an incredible job of making a powerful and compact flying camera that I can carry with me on any trip. As an added bonus, its an ideal hobby to take up during times of physical distancing as you're not permitted to fly within 30m horizontally of other people, or over crowds at all, so it's a great excuse to get away from everyone around you. You're also required to keep the aircraft in line of sight at all times, so having a hawk-eyed wife/spotter is highly recommended when you need to focus on getting all your shots right.

The Langdale Skipper

 As many of you know, Kathryn recently had an interesting opportunity fall into her lap out of nowhere. She is currently spending 2 and 2 half days captaining a foot ferry which connects the Sunshine Coast terminal with Gambier and Keats islands. Since this service starts early and finishes late, she is spending 3 nights a week in the town of Langdale. The downside is a little time apart for both of us, the upside is a new job experience and a little bit of rural living.

I made a short visit one day over the Christmas break and, as you can see, the scenery is pretty darn picturesque out there. The terminal is in the lower left corner of the picture, and she is staying with a nice couple just a few minutes walk away.

 The dock for her commuter service is right alongside the BC Ferries docks. All pedestrian traffic exits at the front of the ship's car deck and it's just a few dozen meters to the side. The majority of customers are locals who live on remote islands with limited services and therefore need frequent access to a larger community for food and various other goods. It sounds like there are more out-of-towners in the summer months, but the winter is predominantly regulars.

The company (Kona Winds) owns several boats, but Stormaway IV is the workhorse for these runs. Kathryn handles the driving and navigation in all sorts of weather, but has a deck hand available to take fares and assist with docking and tying up the vessel. All in all, a good opportunity to put her 60-ton ticket to use and get more experience in the waters of BC!

Water Taxi from Cabo to Land's End

 Cabo San Lucas has a very pleasant touristy marina full of little boats that want to take you out and show you the sights. You can't walk more than 15 feet without someone offering to get you signed up for whale watching, deep sea fishing, or a local cruise. We opted to travel out with this gentleman for a bti of local sight-seeing.

 For about $10 USD per person they take you on a pleasant cruise through the bustling marina, past the local rock formations of Land's End, and out to Lover's Beach (more on them coming up) You can then specify how long you want to explore the area and they'll come back for you at roughly that time.

 An added bonus to this excursion is that most of the boats have a little glass-bottom panel in them and the fish around the reefs of Land's End are are striking as the water is crystal clear. This gives you a great look at some local wildlife feeding on algae and whatnot on the bottom of the boat. I was pleased to get a better look at fish while diving, but for people without that opportunity this is a pretty fantastic option.

Sea Kayaking

Our itinerary included a sea kayaking/bioluminescence tour on the south-west coast and we were doubly fortunate in that outing. First off, when the torrential rain kicked up in the afternoon, we decided that you only live once and we aught to go regardless. Secondly, the other people that would have been on the water at the same time as us didn't make the same choice about the rain, so we had a private tour.

 There were frequently pods of dolphins in these waters and we had high hopes to see some, but unfortunately the passing storm had kicked up some chop on the water so it was a little difficult to spot a small dorsal fin in the ocean. The skies were striking and it had been ages since we'd been out in kayaks, so it was amazing all the same.

 The bioluminescence portion of the trip was too dark for any pictures to be taken, but still has a story worth sharing. After dark we were snorkeling about and told that there would be tiny plankton which would light up due to motion on the water, but were having trouble seeing anything. After 10 minutes or so of flapping around with my face in the water I was beginning to wonder a bit if it was like the story of the Emperors New Clothes and everyone just raves about the bioluminescence because they don't want to admit they can see anything. Fortunately, moments later everything changed and every motion of your body was trailed by an underwater fireball of glowing particles. It was truly an amazing experience and unfortunately, one of the few where you'll have to either take our word or go see for yourselves just how incredible it was.

Outbound Inlaws

 Bevan and Valerie stayed with us for a few days before departing for their Alaskan cruise, which gave us a nice opportunity to have a visit and share and take in a little culture and relaxation. Between leaving work a little early and a whale watching cancellation due to bad weather, we were both able to be around for the majority of their time with us which was very nice. Here they are at the departure gate for their ship.

 Which was an enormous monstrosity of a ship! Apparently their room is midships on the starboard side. I think we'll stick to our small boats and nature tours for a good long time to come, but maybe the day will arrive when we'd like to be pampered in a giant floating hotel ;)

 On a very rainy Saturday before they set out, the four of us took a visit to the art gallery, which had a display called 'Mashup' which was an assortment of modern art, collage, and video editing. That sort of art in particular I find is a healthy split of 50% clever and 50% utter garbage (yes, signing a urinal maybe re-contextualizes the object from its original purpose, but it's a little too nonsense pretentious for me...) The highlight of the gallery was a small "dub room" where they were playing Jamaican music which introduced us to the fun album "Super Ape" by Lee Perry and the Upsetters. The photo below shows the main rotunda with a fancy modern art paint job.

Wild winds, high tides, and the blood moon

 This fall there was a blood moon which resulted in some extreme tides in the same week as a fall storm brought in fairly high winds. Since you've all seen countless clear blood moon photos, I thought I'd share this stylized and shakey picture Kathryn took which neatly emphasizes the energy of the moon and the city night.

 Those high winds and tides caused a number of poorly moored ships in English Bay to slip from their ropes and wash up on shore. For a brief period there were 4 boats washed up in False Creek and while two of them were reclaimed fairly quickly, two were abandoned by their owners and have sunken further into disrepair. The boat below washed up quite high on the rocks and has since had its mast removed as it was hanging strangely over the seawall.

 The ship below, Tabasco, had apparently slipped its moorings several times already this year and had a bad reputation. This has no doubt been compounded as the owners have also abandoned it, and the day after this photo was taken, it had filled completely with water and was lying on its side underwater. This continued for a few weeks until someone pulled it out of the water, but not very gentley such that the keel and mast have both been removed.

 

So in summary, if you're lucky enough to own a sail boat, please tie it up properly, and if you can't be bothered to do that, don't be surprised if nobody else can be bothered to keep your boat ship shape for you.

The Scorpion Submarine

 On the same day in Long Beach that we clambered around the Queen Mary, we also took in a tour of the Russian Scorpion Submarine. While there are interenet rumors that it was submarine which The Hunt for Red October was based on (and the portrait of Sean Connery in the gift shop does nothing to dissuade that idea), the truth is a little less cinematic. It was actually decommissioned by the Russian military during the collapse of the Soviet Union and sold to a group of Australian investors.

 Being right beside the Queen Mary gives you a nice opportunity to see it from above as well and appreciate the size and shape of the whole craft. This photo also shows the entry and exit ramps tp reach the ship and the edge of the gift shop in the lower left corner.

 The inside is a great spot for photographers who like to combine low light with tubes, gauges, and valves. Once again I put my trusty fisheye lens to the test and got some nice pictures of the interior, my favorite of which is Kathryn crouched at the end of this array of torpedo tubes. Scorpion had 4 at the front and back, along with elaborate winches for loading the next shot in. There were also a number of round doors to crawl/sling your way through and an active periscope on the bridge.

Aboard the Queen Mary

The RMS Queen Mary served as an ocean liner from the 30s to the late 60s as everything from a luxury liner to a WW2 troop transport until its retirement as a tourist attraction/hotel in Long Beach. Kathryn and I initially weren't too keen on what we thought would be a kitchy tribute to excess, but changed our minds and thoroughly enjoyed our time onboard.

 We had free roam of most of the ship (which ones again, is a great place to bring a wide angle lens) and also took a behind-the-scenes ghost tour. I continue to not believe in ghosts, but our guide had excellent delivery and knew his stuff. It was also a great opportunity to peer around some creepy bits of the ship like the old pool and where the boilers used to be. (Part of the contract to keep the ship in Long Beach involved a guarantee to remove any transportation functionality, so the enormous furnaces that once powered it were removed).

 Its been awhile since I shared a fisheye planet with everyone, and I was particularly pleased with the way this one from the front of the ship turned out. Having lots of wires running overhead forced a particularly interesting perspective to avoid cutting anything out and I very much enjoy the binary feel the final image has.

 

As a quirky aside for this picture, near the bottom left there is a large white dome (click on the image to enlarge, as always) which once housed Howard Hughes's "Spruce Goose"

Beauty and the Beach

 LA may have its share of snarled slow moving traffic and urban sprawl, but it also has amazing and lovely beaches that go for miles and miles and miles. On our last full day in the city we took a morning trip to Playa del Rey to enjoy the sun and surf. There were a handful of dolphins hunting nearby and though we chose not to try and swim out to them, it was very fun to see their fins in the water.

 Kathryn is a particular delight to watch play in the waves, and I'm sure most photographers would agree that the true reason burst mode was developed for cameras was to get just the right picture of a lovely girl in a bikini splashing through the water ;)

 The beach also had a derelict boat which had washed ashore years ago which had anything valuable stripped out and the rest was covered in graffiti. The waves and current have a strange suction at this beach and even standing on the waterline you can feel the sand pulled out from under your feet with every wave, so its no great surprise that the wreck is half full of sand and would be a huge pain to move.

Killer Whale Highlights of 2013.

Over the winter Geordie put together a lovely highlight reel from the footage I took over April through to October of my days on the water.  Working at Wild Whales Vancouver I got lots of opportunity to show off these animals and take their pictures.  Not only killer whales (both Bigg's and Southern Residents) but also humpback and minkes whales, harbour seals, steller and california sea lions. I need to work on my bald eagle footage.  Geordie really liked the jumps that I was lucky enough to get, especially as I don't see that kind of activity every day.  They are a bit statisticaly overrepresented in the video.

I hope to take lots more footage of orcas and all the animals out there.  I already have started on a collection for 2014 showcase.

Alert Bay

I have always wanted to visit Alert Bay (Kwak'wala: 'ya̱lis) on Cormorant Island.  Over-rated Emily Carr paintings that don't do it justice aside, it is a lovely ocean-side community.  We did not dock but were able to view it from a boat after our dive.  Looks like a fantastic place to go ashore to stay or camp. 

It is located in traditionally Kwakwaka'wakw territory and post of the inhabitants are of this First Nation. The influence is reflected in the lovely ceder canoes that occasionally dotted the docks that ran the long towns length. 

The old residential school is in the back ground of the below photo. I don't believe it is being currently used for anything but I am not sure.  Alert Bay is home to the world's largest totem pole and also sports an inspiring collection. The totem poles are mostly in one area of the town but every once in a while there is another. My favorite thing about traditionally situated totem poles as that just as the trees they came from and the people who created them they eventually decay, fall over and go back to the land and are reabsorbed in the soils so you would never know they were there.

Scuba at Warbonnet

One day during the August long weekend Geordie and I did our first Vancouver Island Scuba Trip.  To be specific, a fairly North Vancouver Island trip.  We got up early in the chilly and foggy August morning to drive to Port McNeill.  We joined 2 snorkelers and our 2 dive buddies at Fun Sun Divers. The skies cleared half way through our 2nd dive.
I'm still a nervous diver but I think that is partly due to so many layers that I get constricted and lose mobility so I end up fighting myself.  Also with all the layers I need more weights than I can comfortably carry to begin with.  Layers are necessary as I get cold easily. The 2nd dive I got rid of some layers keeping just regular clothes and my 200g weight mountain gear and had a much better, more relaxed and longer dive despite the same amount of weight.  I need more dive experience to get the balance right as well as more comfortable being so far down (only 47 feet max depth but still....)

The picture below is at Warbonnet which was a great spot full of basket sea stars, fish and chitons that look like oily rainbows. 

Camping the Cove

For the first time, we camped in Telegraph Cove.  Rubes that we are, instead of using the tent camp ground that was about 1 kilometre or so in the interior (ie: in the mud), I was able to get us a spot in the RV camp.  We promptly lowered the property values as we were the only tiny tent in a lot full of swish RVs that belonged to either early retirees or rich familes.  A fact that was not lost on the gently mocking inhabitants who were in fact quite nice and gave some huge fillets of Pinks salmon!  And the cutest little boy/girl was having a blast blowing bubbles.

The below vessel is the Gikumi, named for a Native Chief.  It is an oft photographed boat and is featured in many a photo book of the West Coast and/or Vancouver Island.  Really. Pick up the nearest one and check. The building in the back is Stubb's Island Whale Watching (recommended) and the Whale Interpretive Centre (also recommended).

The building mentioned above, the WIC, is the one on the right side of the photo just where the big bunch of trees end.  This is a spherical plan taken from a dock that is almost in the middle of the cove.  Historical Telegraph Cove is at the top Modern Telegraph Cove is at the bottom.  Very differently styled sections. The result of two different developers.

Galapagos Highlight Reel

 Our trip to Ecuador highlight reels will comprise of two videos. The second will feature the Amazon Rain forest. The first is completed and posted here (and on Vimeo) and is all about the Galapagos Islands. It shows some of the unique and rare flora and fauna that is native to the archipelago. Most of the species and landscapes shown have already been featured in other posts. So if there is something that catches your eye check there for more information.

Music: The Porcupine Tree "The Colour of Air"

Getting Around on the Napo River

Transport in the Amazon. In a word... varied.  For the most part we were in lovely dugout canoes. The anthropologists will know how these are made. Burned out, hacked out and shaped. We took took these anywhere we went off the Napo River itself.  We found several that were no longer water worthy and were beginning to rot. All natural materials meant all natural disposal. These were my favorite. Quiet and real.

 This is very similar to what we took from Coca to miscellaneous shore line 3 hrs East.  Basically its a high speed canoe.  Most have canopies. Their narrow shape means that they can navigate between sandbars more easily than wider vessels.

 Speaking of wider vessels, while we did not journey on one of these we saw plenty. The back is basically the wheel house with perhaps some beds, definately a kitchen and a salon/social area where people can eat and chat. The front had everything like trucks as you see below or huge bulldozers. The Napo has extremely variable water heights. It was low while we were there so even the small speedy engine dugouts had to drop knots to navigate the sand bars and dead heads.

The Beluga

 During our 8 days in the Galapagos Islands we stayed aboard the MY Beluga. It has a crew of 8 and can hold 16 for a total capacity of 24.  Our total was 21. It is about 35 years old and in lovely condition.  It is a small Yacht with a dining/ social area, a sun deck on the back and an open bow.  It is small enough that it can feel chop. I have never been bothered by sea sickness and get my sea legs pretty quickly. Geordie was bothered just a little but there were some on board that were hitting the dramamine pretty heavily and feeding the fishes.

 The rooms were small but very nice. Ours was about midship on the port side. We had a port hole in the bedroom and one in the shower.  All the closets had special fasteners to hold them shut or open when the ship rolled. One night after we were underway in rough seas I thought a bit more roll and I was going to fall off the bed! I got used to it quickly and for days after we departed the boat I felt the roll of the ship.  It took almost a week for it to go away.

 Below is a panoramic photograph of the dining area and common social area. The kitchen and access to the sundeck is on the far right. On the far left are stairs going down to some bedrooms including ours.  The sofas were a good place to lounge after the sun had gone done and have a beer or glass of wine and look in their excellent supply of nature books. You can see the beautiful wood and brass detailing which gives this ship so much character and charm. It was a pleasure to stay on and would certainly recommend a smaller boat over one of the huge Cruise Ships which hold 100- 3000 people.

 Click on the panorama above to enlarge it.

Telegraph Cove Highlight Reel

We've finished the basic cut of our Telegraph Cove highlights and rather than sit on it and noodle stabilization for another month or two I thought I'd get it uploaded and see how everyone likes it.

A few quick notes about it. The intro staccato shots were meant to be part of a more lengthy and fluid time lapse, but our trailcam was an unruly machine and this was the best we got out of it. We've since upgraded the firmware and its working properly, but if anyone is interested in getting one themselves, drop me a line and I'll help you avoid some of pitfalls we found with the damn things.

Also some of our shots are still a little shakier than I'd like, but given they were mostly shot through long telephoto lenses with shakey hands from the pitching deck of a boat and looking into ever-changing water, I will call any result a success :P

White Water Rafting

During our stay in Piedmont, my friend Anne organized a white water rafting trip with a bunch of people from work and ourselves. Anne, Yves, Kathryn and myself should all be recognizable to you after the intro to everyone, and the two fellows sitting behind Kathryn and I were Paul (left) and Ben (right) who are also Winnipeggers by origin who also happened to be out where the work was. The other people in the boat were a pair of sisters we had never met before and our guide who was very nice and got us all through intact.
The rapids we went over were Class 3 and 4 out of a potential 6 classes, so they were choppy without being dangerous. At one point we hit one funny and everyone on the left side of the boat went over the edge while everyone on the right was tossed across into their recently vacated seats. Even hurtling into churning waters unexpectedly, Kathryn is having the time of her life. The rafting company is very prepared with people throwing lines to anyone that falls in and rounding up gear so theres no danger in a tumble.
You likely all noticed that those pictures were clearly taken from shore by a photographer as both of us are in them, but I did also have my pocket waterproof camera with me just for fun and got a few pictures of people in the water at the end of things along with a little video.
The water was actually quite nice and warm once you were in it, but it was a slightly overcast and chilly day, so we were certainly glad we took Annes advice and rented half wetsuits from the company. So to anyone out there thinking of giving this nonsense a shot I would strongly recommend doing the same to stay a little warmer and enjoy yourself more .

Lakes Naivasha and Nakuru

We visited two lakes in Kenya in the space of a few days. We would have very much liked more time at both, but that was the case with everywhere we went. The highlights of Lake Naivasha was a boat ride where we could watch hippos swimming and see lots of birds. Lake Nakuru offered flamingos and white rhinos as well as our only striped hyena sighting.

Music: "Crossing the Bridge" by Jerry Goldsmith.

Lake Naivasha had stunning grounds that we were able to explore during the day provided we were alert for any irate Cape Buffalo. After dinner we had a guard escort us all back to our rooms to be sure we weren't attacked by startled grazing hippos; this was our only time in life we have been able to say we tipped our hippo guard. We also had some lovely encounters with grazing giraffes and duelling waterbuck on the grounds.
Our room at Lake Nakuru was perched on a little hill wher we could overlook the area and wander around. There were several bird feeders on the grounds and one of the highlights was the nest of a paradise flycatcher we could see through the branches. There were displays of local dancing in the evening and we enjoyed the pool during the hottest parts of the day.