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It’s the middle of August. We have had no rain since<br />
March. The daytime temperatures have been breaking<br />
records until August 21 st , the day we had scheduled a<br />
cruise to Race Rocks Marine Protected Area. Overnight the<br />
rain arrived in buckets.<br />
Was the trip going to<br />
be cancelled?<br />
Many called to<br />
check. Yes, we were going,<br />
rain or shine. On<br />
<strong>and</strong> off rain all morning<br />
only slowing to a drizzle<br />
by departure time of<br />
1pm. Fortunately the<br />
boat, the 41-foot cabin<br />
cruiser Fantasea (see<br />
next page, bottom) has<br />
a closed cabin <strong>and</strong> the<br />
open upper platform<br />
was tarpaulin enclosed.<br />
It will be our pho-<br />
Digital Camera SIG Photoshoot<br />
Sea Lions in the Mist<br />
by Ken Beattie<br />
Ken Beattie<br />
tography platform for the three-hour cruise. We were relatively<br />
dry with the rain only dripping through the cracks<br />
<strong>and</strong> joins.<br />
The cruise was arranged by The L<strong>and</strong> Conservancy (TLC)<br />
society as a fund-raiser for their bid to purchase the Sooke<br />
Pot Holes l<strong>and</strong>s. The Pot Holes were the subject of a<br />
previous photo shoot {August 2004].<br />
Excitement was running high as a dozen of our<br />
members prepared for the departure. On our way out of<br />
the Victoria harbour, we got a waterside view of many of<br />
the tourist attractions. Our keen photographers captured<br />
images of the Undersea<br />
Gardens, The<br />
Empress, Fisherman’s<br />
Wharf <strong>and</strong> others.<br />
On reaching open<br />
water, a big disappointment<br />
arrived in<br />
the form of dense fog.<br />
Visibility dropped to<br />
150 feet (46 meters)<br />
or less. The radar <strong>and</strong><br />
depth sounder were<br />
activated for safety.<br />
The tour guide that<br />
was to have joined<br />
us from Pearson College<br />
radioed that it<br />
was unsafe for them to try <strong>and</strong> meet us with their Zodiac<br />
inflatable.<br />
Just another minor disappointment — expert commentary<br />
on the wild life we might see cancelled by the fog.<br />
Fortunately, one of the TLC volunteers who had taken this<br />
trip before offered to fill in.<br />
Despite the disappointments, we were having<br />
a great time. On board were supplies<br />
for coffee, hot tea <strong>and</strong> trays of snacks.<br />
The choices were appropriate for a sea<br />
cruise — smoked salmon, several cheeses,<br />
caviar <strong>and</strong> crackers. We quickly forgot<br />
the outside world.<br />
Suddenly the engines slowed <strong>and</strong><br />
fear showed on the faces of those who<br />
had said they could not swim. However the<br />
captain called out that we had arrived. Sure<br />
enough, we could just make out the now unused<br />
lighthouse of Race Rocks through the fog. On<br />
the starboard side were more rocks covered with<br />
Lykel Hoekstra<br />
Background image by Lykel Hoekstra
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