British Columbia Scenery Photo Tour
Vancouver Island

Photo:  Buchart Gardens in May

© Darren Guenther, used with permission

Darren and the girls surprised me with a trip to Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island in BC for Mother's Day.  The tulips were blooming and it was a perfect day.  This is the most beautiful garden I've ever been to in my life.

Vancouver Island, BC has the nicest temperatures in Canada.  Some people even try to grow things like lemons and olives there!  Lots of people from across Canada and around the world visit to enjoy the lovely climate and natural surroundings.

The island has had people living on it for thousands of years (the oldest archaeological records suggest that there may have been people living there for as long as 9,000 years).

Photo:  First Nations Art, near Queen's Park in Oak Bay, Vancouver Island, BC.

© Darren Guenther, used with permission

Coast Salish artwork jigsaw puzzle

The indiginous people that currently still live on the island are the Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Coast Salish peoples -- each group has its own language.  In Canada they are known as "First Nations people".

Like much of Canada, Vancouver Island has many areas are protected by the government so that generations to come can continue to enjoy the natural world.  On the island, you can find giant red cedars, sitka spruce, douglas fir and salal.  The northern part of the island is a temperate rainforest with some of the largest trees still to be found on planet earth!

Photo:  Walking on the Boardwalk to Hot Springs Cove (near Tofino, BC)

© Brand Canada, Used with permission

With so much forest to live in, it's not surprising that there's lots of wildlife too.  Vancouver Island has black bears, elk and lots of cougars.  Vancouver Island marmots and Vancouver Island wolves are two animals that aren't found anywhere else.

Photo:  Orca (killer whale) pod including a male, two females and a calf near Vancouver Island, BC

photographer Thomas Hubauer, used with permission under CC 2.0

Being an island there are also many ocean animals including sea otters, fur seals, grey whales, humpback whales, orcas (killer whales), salmon, herring and halibut.

No grizzly bears though!  Tourists are always asking where to spot a grizzly -- they live on the mainland, not the island.