sammysamsam21's PhotoBlog

SCUBA diving Santa Cruz island

2010-03-14T03:13:22Z

A day of SCUBA diving with the Stus. We took the Peace Boat from Ventura to three dive sites off Santa Cruz islands, in the Channel Islands National Park, California. The journey out to the island was horrendous, with huge swells making me very, very seasick. Fortunately, once we were round the island, the seas calmed, and I felt well enough to dive. All three dives were excellent, with highlights including amazing kelp forests, beds of bright blue sea urchins, a huge lobster and several different types of nudibranch.

Canada celebrates

2010-03-13T23:38:27Z

Scenes in Downtown Vancouver, after Canada win Gold in the men's ice hockey.

Olympic Bobsleigh - 4 man bob finals

2010-02-28T22:44:00Z

I was again lucky to be offered tickets to the final two runs of the 4 man bobsleigh at Whistler Sliding Center. We had to get up ridiculously early to head up the Sea to Sky, but the journey up there was very smooth. As an extra treat, we went to Elements for brunch, as a reminder of our wedding day last year. The event itself was spectacular. The bobsleighs go extremely quickly - you can hear the roar building, then they flash past in a split second. Fortunately, there were no crashes. The US took gold, with Germany second and Canada in bronze position.

Olympic Speedskating - women's 5000 m final

2010-02-28T20:48:36Z

I got lucky and managed to buy tickets to the women's 5000 m final from someone, at cost price. It was a fantastic experience. The Olympic Oval at Richmond is a beautiful building. The speedskating was spectacular to watch, with three Canadians racing, eliciting huge cheers from the crowd. It was wonderful to see Clara Hughes, who declared that she would retire after the olympics, race to take bronze.

Olympic Ice Hockey

2010-02-27T03:57:39Z

The semi-final match between Sweden and USA.

Mount Gardner hike

2010-02-27T03:11:13Z

With all the Olympic excitement, we needed to get away from the city for the day. This was our first time on the water taxi from Granville Island to Bowen Island - we'd normally get the bus to Horseshoe Bay, then the BC ferry. The water taxi was fantastic - more expensive, but worth it for the convenience. We cycled up to the trailhead, then hiked to the top of Mount Gardner via skid trail and South Summit trail. The views were spectacular, and it was amazing to be hiking in a t-shirt in February!

More Olympic Vancouver

2010-02-25T06:03:30Z

A beautiful day for a bike ride around olympic Vancouver. We checked out the Russian pavilion, in Science World, which was showcasing Sochi, the venue of the next Winter olympics. We also had a look at the olympic caulron, and the infamous fence. A ride around Coal Harbour brought us to Saxony House, but the queue was not moving at all so we left, in favour of catching the sunset from English Bay, just as news of team GB's gold medal in the skeleton bob came in!

Olympic Curling!

2010-02-25T03:36:31Z

We went to watch team GB take on Sweden in the women's curling round robin. Unfortunately, they did not win, but it was still a great experience.

House finch

2010-02-24T04:37:46Z

Enjoying a tasty treat of some early blossom.

Olympics fun

2010-02-22T03:50:24Z

A day of treading the pavement with Christie and Hamish, checking out some of the free olympic events and pavilions. We also had the chance to watch some friends take part in a "flash mob" dance in the street - quite an amazing sight.