Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Where Have All The Cruise Ships Gone?

On October 4th the last Cruise Ship leaves Vancouver for the season.  Fittingly named the Island Princess, either because she cruises islands everywhere she goes or because she is an island all unto herself with all the amenities 1,970 passengers could expect; including a fitness centre/spa, casino and a wide variety of restaurants.  The Island Princess is part of the Princess Cruise line which, in turn, is owned by the Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise ship operator, which also owns the Carnival, Holland-America, P&O, and Cunard lines amongst others.  Royal Caribbean is the 2nd largest cruise ship operator but it has the biggest ships with 9 of the top 11 including the very biggest, Oasis of the Seas, which, at 220,000 gross tons, 362 metres in length, and 63 metres in beam, is more than 4 times the size of the Titanic in gross tonnage, 100 meters longer, and twice the width.  It's also capable of carrying over 6,000 passengers and crew, nearly double that of the Titanic. 
Crown Princess photo by Junie Quiroga
﻿For better or worse the Oasis of the Seas has yet to make it to Vancouver but, at a fuel consumption rate of 7,000 gallons per hour at 22 knots, (which works out to 20 gallons per foot) it's probably better off puttering around the Caribbean.  At any rate it wouldn't make it through the Panama canal, where the maximum cruise ship size the locks can accommodate is 290 metres in length and 32 metres in width, so it would be a very long and expensive trip to get here no matter what route it took.  The Island Princess, on the other hand, is part of a class of ships referred to as Panamax, which is the maximum size ships can be to squeeze through the Panama canal.  As a result, they can spend the winter season in the Caribbean and then come up to the Pacific Northwest in summer to cruise the waters of the Inside Passage.
Oasis of the Seas
The seemingly inexhaustable market for folks wanting to check out the beautiful B.C. coastline and the glaciers of Alaska has kept our waterfront humming with the comings and goings of all these massive ships, even with the competition from Seattle.  The 2010 stats aren't out yet but in 2009 there were 35 different vessels here, carrying 900,000 passengers on 256 sailings. The logistics of feeding and watering all these people, never mind the thousands of crew members themselves, is too staggering to contemplate, and let's not forget about the fuel.  And this is only for the Alaska cruise season.  No wonder Micky Arison, the owner of Carnival, is listed by Forbes as the 94th wealthiest person in the world.

4 Cruise ships at the Canada Place terminal
﻿While the Island Princess has been busy all summer taking guests back and forth to Alaska, her last cruise of the season is a 17 day re-positioning one to Fort Lauderdale via the Panama Canal.  There she will set up camp for the winter Caribbean season, along with all the other cruise ships in the region who use Fort Lauderdale as their home base.  It's an annual migration that follows the same route as the whales (at least as far as Mexico) and, for those in the know, these re-positioning cruises offer a great bargain.  Next spring, just like the whales, these leviathans of the boating world will return but for now it's goodbye Vancouver.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Jelly Jelly

Every year around the end of August and the beginning of September the little aquatic paratroopers start appearing in English Bay.  Acting as the advance party of some secret mission, they quietly sail through the ocean currents, guided by their translucent chutes, towards some mysterious landing spot.  At first they're only a few in number but they are quickly joined by reinforcements and, within a week or so, they are numbering in the thousands.  Suddenly, the invasion is under way and the Bay has been completely taken by surprise.

Moon Jellyfish
Are they really from this planet or could they be friendly extra terrestials?  Are they escaping from somewhere? Is this a way station or the final destination? What is it they have come here for? Is there some special substance in our waters they are wanting to take back with them?  Are they shields for some microscopic creature that will eventually mutate into something completely different?  Can they communicate?

A lot of fantastical questions are created in my mind as I swim through all the little Moon Jellyfish, who are doing their best to ignore me as they go about their business.  I feel their gelatinous bodies bouncing gently and harmlessly off my own and, as I dive under to take a closer look, it seems like I'm in the middle of a strange underwater galaxy.  In actual fact what's happening is a spectacular orgy, and everyone is taking advantage of the perfect water temperature to really get it on before saying goodbye to this life cycle.

Who would have known, but at least they don't bite or sting, unlike another type of jellyfish which also shows up at this time of year, the Lion's Mane.  At an average diameter of 4 - 6 inches the little Moonies aren't even in the same league as the Lion's Mane which are the world's largest jellyfish, growing up to 8 feet in diameter and having a thick array of tentacles, resembling the mane of a lion, that trail up to 90 feet in length, (though the ones I've encountered are generally a third of this size).  They pack an amazingly nasty sting that can leave your arm feeling very sore and painful for hours if you make the mistake of accidentally touching it (which I have) and there are even stories of people dying after being stung.  Even the ends of the tentacles can leave your skin feeling numb if they happen to graze your face or hands.

Lion's Mane Jellyfish

Feeding on zooplankton, small fish, moon jellies and unsuspecting children, the only good thing about the Lion's Mane is they are usually easy to spot and they don't show up in large numbers. Like the Moon jellies they have only a one year life span and, while they spend most of it in the open ocean, they show up in sheltered bays at the end of the year to breed and die.  Their main predators are sea turtles, who like eating jellyfish of any description but must really like their food hot and spicy if they eat these beasties (actually they are immune to the sting).  Unfortunately, sea turtles also get confused by plastic bags that end up in the ocean and try to eat them as well, even if it clogs up their digestive tract and kills them.

With the arrival of the autumn equinox and the end of summer the jellies have suddenly disappeared, and I can swim now without fear of being attacked by a Lion's Mane or being captured by an alien landing party of Moonie sex fiends.  There are over 2,000 species of jellyfish in the world but, thankfully, only a few ever show up here.  Technically they aren't even fish.  Still you have to admire how they get around, and their great sense of rhythm as they pulsate through the water.  Jelly jelly baby.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Sockeye On The Run


Granville Island Salmon photo by Junie Quiroga


Salmon migration routes


Granville Island Salmon photo by Junie Quiroga



Confiscated Japanese fishing vessels

Hells Gate before the landslide
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Hells Gate after the landslide
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Hells Gate today with fish ladders

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A Whale With No Name

Over the Labour Day weekend someone had made a whale sand sculpture on the beach at English Bay.  A tribute no doubt to the grey whale that has been delighting everyone with his sporadic guest appearances throughout the summer.  I say "he" because in the whale world it's generally the women and children that stick together and only the males who go walkabout on their own.

Whale Sand Sculpture photo by Junie Quiroga

Of course the whale didn't have any papers to show either the Fish & Wildlife, Coast Guard, or Customs & Immigration officials that would normally be controlling the access of pelagic tourists choosing to enter Vancouver by sea, so nobody really knows anything about him including his name. He first showed up in May coming into False Creek and doing a bit of an O.J. Simpson with helicopters circling around him and everyone crowding the bridges and seawall to get a glimpse and take photos.  He also took his tour to the bustling metropolis of Squamish to wow the locals there and then spent the summer cruising along the Sunshine Coast and mingling with the boaters before coming back to Vancouver.

photo by Andrew Hood
While hunted to extinction by the 19th century on the east coast of North America, grey whales survived on the west coast and, in the 20th century were only hunted sporadically.  The last grey whale hunting in B.C. was in 1953 when a dozen were killed, and in California a few hundred were killed in the 1960's.  Since then they have been protected from commercial fishing (in spite of the Makah tribe in Washington state who are still claiming the right to hunt a few every year) and their population has grown to over 20,000 individuals.
Grey Whale and her calf

Migrating up and down the coast from the warm winter waters of Baja, Mexico, where they mate and give birth, to the cool waters of British Columbia and Alaska in summer, where they come to feast, their aquatic world knows no borders.  All they are interested in are the yummy amphipods and benthic crustaceans they scoop up along with all the mud, sand and sediment on the ocean bottom, that they mix together with a generous amount of seawater, and then strain it all through their baleen, a sort of natural sieve that is built into their mouth. It's a healthy diet that allows them to grow up to 50 feet in length, 35 tons in weight, and live until the ripe old age of 60 years.

English Bay Slide photo by Junie Quiroga

Watching that September afternoon as the whale cruised along the stretch of beach between English Bay and Second Beach, where I go for my daily morning swim, I decided to put on my wetsuit and join him.  Unfortunately for me, by the time I got past all the excited sunbathers, the whale had already headed over to Kits Beach and into the ocean.  Considering grey whales cruise at 8 km per hour compared to my 2 - 3 km per hour (depending on current) I didn't have a hope of catching up.

As I watched him disappear into the sunset of his borderless world I couldn't help but envy his lifestyle and was glad to see he had such a huge fan club.  Perhaps he will spread the word to the others that it's safe to come through the Inside Passage again and the scenery is just as interesting as on the West Coast.  Maybe I'll even meet up with him down in Mexico one winter.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Over, Under, Sideways, Around


Swims With Seals photo by Junie Quiroga


Nelson & Jack photo by Junie Quiroga


Crown Jewel photo by Junie Quiroga


Nelson Quiroga photo by Junie Quiroga
