When Grandma Sally came up to visit this year, we decided to go to the Butchart Gardens. On the way up, we stopped by Deception Pass;

This photo shows the turbulent waters of the pass reasonably well. It was christened Deception Pass by Captain Vancouver, who had at first thought Whidbey to be a peninsula. The discovery of the pass made the Captain realize that Whidbey was in fact an island.

On our first day, we went whale watching. The seas were unusually high for the San Juan islands, with three to four foot swells. Fortunately, we weren't out long before the whales appeared.

You can see the markings behind the dorsal fin of this male. I think its probably J26, Mike. We were seeing whales from J pod – compare for yourself at the whale research center.

They eventually came in pretty close to the boat.

After spending the day with the whales, we took the ferry up to Victoria. The islands near Victoria are very dry for the Pacific Northwest, and look like hills of gold rising from the blue-gray water. I like the colors of this madrone and conifers on the yellowed grass.

We arrived in Victoria, and took the obligatory photo of the capitol building.

We stopped by the local aquarium. It was interesting in that most of its displays were of local wildlife. A Dungeoness crab comes up for a closer look.

One of the odder fishes in the local waters, a wolf eel.

A much closer look at an anenome than you can get in a tide pool.