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One of the first signs of Spring is the lowly skunk cabbage, popping up in its spectacularly weird immature form. I have read that this is the only plant species to be exothermic -- it generates a heat signature! Later in the early summer its large green leaves will appear, but for now it looks even weirder than calla lilies. |
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In Santa Cruz we had bright yellow banana slugs; up here North of 50 we have leopard-spotted, pale yellow banana slugs. Both are rainforest critters. It's oddly nostalgic, if a little odd, to see the familiar slug in such different costume. |
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Along the waterfront the decorative trees are in bud. |
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Where direct sunlight hits, the trees bloom earlier. Along the waterfront walk one or two of them are breath-taking. |
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The city of Nanaimo is gung-ho on public planters (at least in the turista quarter, along the waterfront and in the olde-towne kitsch shopping area. The planters are well-kept and -- since bulbs do very well in this climate -- very showy in Spring with a wide variety of plantings; these daffs are just one of several impressive displays. I'll try to get better photos in 2009. |
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In the park, flowering trees line the paths and overhang the benches. |
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From April through May it is a parade of heart-stopping beauty. |
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| In Spring, low tides occur during daylight hours -- much inconveniencing the marina operators, whose Travelifts may stand idle while the water's too shallow for boats to approach the ways. |
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Looking over the side of the dock one easily sees starfish and crabs on the bottom, as in a tidepool. |
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The local purple stars (very common in shoal water) stubbornly cling to their pilings despite the falling water. |
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Critters that cling to the pilings, normally several feet below the surface... |
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... are exposed the the air and hang drooping like saltwater taffy. |
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The muddy foreshore is exposed, and the ramp down to the floating docks becomes very steep. |
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The racing dragonboat next door at "Bluenose" Marina isn't going anywhere until the tide turns. |
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Across the channel, on the island, sandy beaches are exposed by the low water -- a great time to land a dinghy and poke about the foreshore. |
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Spring is also the time for spectacle in the skies: masses of fast-moving clouds, fickle and playful weather. Warmish, still afternoons, dead calm despite all kinds of dynamics going on in the upper atmosphere. |
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The waterfront is merely a backdrop for the far more impressive structures in the sky. |
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Almost like the South Pacific... but a lot cooler! |
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| A calm afternoon in late Spring is a perfect time to go rowing; here I look back at "the Gap" (between Newcastle and Protection Islands) from my dinghy... |
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| ... and here I look out across the Strait of Georgia towards Gibsons Bay. Happy memories of exploring my new back yard by dinghy; of picnics ashore and aboard, boats hailed and met, old friends encountered afloat, micro-adventures on a fractal coast, rowing through a vast reflected sky. |
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