Page 2 of JojoandIan185 Travel Blog Posts


North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver May 13th 2012

Grouse Mountain is in North Vancouver and is only a 20 min drive from the city. In the winter it is a ski resort and in the summer they have stuff on like mountain zip lines; eagle demonstrations and lumber jack shows but what we were going for was to see Coola and Grinder, the grizzly bears who have lived there for over 10 years. The bears are not related but were found as cubs within weeks of each other. One was lying next to its dead mother who had been hit by a car and the other was found in a forest malnourished and dehydrated. Long story, but they live in a 5 acre habitat at the top of Grouse Mountain enclosed only by an electric fence. We were stood about 3 feet from one ... read more
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Coola / Grinder
2nd zipline

North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver May 12th 2012

First stop today was the Vancouver Aquarium, which is the largest in North America. They are a non profit making organisation and are involved in marine mammal conservation. They have a sea otter that was found alone in the sea aged approx 2 weeks old. The people who found him waited hours to see if the mother returned for him but she didn't so he was reared by humans. Isn't he adorable? So that was what I liked about the aquarium but after seeing seals; sea lions and a whale swimming freely in the ocean I couldn't bear seeing them being confined in swimming pools. There were dolphin and beluga display shows scheduled but we left as I couldn't bear to watch :( We then did a tour of Stanley Park which is a completely natural ... read more
Jelly Fish
Nemo!

North America » Canada » British Columbia May 11th 2012

Ian's whale trip was cancelled again Wednesday but they moved him to the Zodiac trip going at 9am this morning. I decided you only live once so took travelsickness tablets and bought pressure point wristbands and joined him. If you ever get the chance to go on a zodiac in open seas you have to do it. Not for the faint hearted, old or incontinent it is such an exhilarating experience. I felt no sickness and we saw a whale. He was feeding quite near the shore in waters about 10 metres deep. It was a grey whale and they are not known for flipping ther tail out as they dive so we just saw him surfacing to blow. They have to do this every 3-5 mins so we saw him three times before heading back. ... read more


Bear trip this morning after another bad night waking up at 5am wide awake and then knackered when we had to get up at 645am. There were only 4 of us on the trip so had the boat almost to ourselves. We saw 8 bears in total which is the most they have seen this season so far. There were 2 females that had two cubs each, they were last years cubs so about 15 months old and she will be chasing them away from her very soon. The first ones were not bothered by our presence at all but the second lot of cubs ran up and hid in a tree. We also saw 2 males in different areas, much bigger than the females but not as big as I thought they would be. We ... read more
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So today was the Whale Watching boat trip. We spent 3 hours on a boat out in the pacific ocean and saw Californian sea lions; Stellar sea lions; sea otters; various birds but no whales and I found out I am sea sick. The company we went with give guarantee you see whales or you get a free trip to go again. There is no chance I am getting on that boat again but Ian is going to use his ticket either Tuesday pm or Wed am. Th bear watching boat trip is tomorrow and todays's trip saw a mum and two cubs so am hoping we see them too. After today's boat trip we had massages booked at The Sacred Spa. Bit of a spiritual spa and you are asked to write down a message ... read more


After a 3 hour drive through Pacific Rim National Park and 24 hours of travelling we finally got here and it is as amazing as it looks on the website. Our room does have the view I have been showing everyone and THAT balcony is ours. Having a problem adding pictures ATM but will hopefully get that sorted today. Thought we had beaten the jetlag by going to bed at 11pm local time after being up for 34 hours (apart from an hour on the plane and 20 mins on the ferry) but no, wide awake at 345am. Last time I looked at the clock 420am so must have fell asleep but then up at 6am. Took the camera onto the balcony but realised only Ian knows how to use it and he was still snoring. ... read more
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Flight with AirTransat was much better than I was expecting, they just didn't stop feeding us so that was me happy! We are sat at the ferry terminal awaiting our boat to Vancouver Island in glorious sunshine and that's the forecast for the next 4 days. Hurray, no rain. Hertz offered us a cheap upgrade on the car so instead of a mid size 4x4 we have a truck. Ian is easily pleased!... read more

North America » Canada February 29th 2012

Going to try and write a blog of all our Canadian adventures. If this has worked we can keep you all updated whilst away and then I won't have to bore you all when we get back!... read more




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