Day 3 dawned with rain clouds in the air and raindrops on our windows. Actually it’s perfect weather to snuggle under a blanket with the fire going and watch hockey on tv… Except hockey is on at night here, unlike Australia where the NHL is on during the day. Therefore we needed something else to do.

And what better thing to on a wet day than to go to an aquarium? Vancouver Aquarium to be exact. Home of Pacific White-Sided Dolphins and of course Beluga Whales! So that’s where we headed. Vancouver Aquarium is located in Stanley Park – which is this beautiful large protected park on the peninsular between Coal Harbour and English Bay. It has a number of attractions and is really reminicent of NZ scenery. It took us a while to find it but the drive was lovely and we got to see the Olympic Rings that are on a barge in Coal Harbour.

The photos on the blackberry phones really don’t do the whales, dolphins or fish any justice, so I’ll leave the visuals until we can upload some good ones. We started in the Tropic Zone and saw the fish and animals that are found in areas likle Brazil. There were some beautiful macaws, a photogenic and attention loving tiger-stingray, a scary anaconda, a sleepy two-toed sloth and the terrifying pirrahnas. *shudders*

It was by then time to watch the Dolphin talk/training session so we headed out to the Wild Coast section and listened to the talk on the Pacific White-Sided Dolphins – a male named Spinikar, and two females, Hannah and Helen. They were dolphins who had been caught in fishing nets, rescued, rehabilitated and moved to the Aquarium. We watched their Dolphin show from the viewing platform under the aquarium later in the day, completely facinating. You could still see the scars the fishing nets left on the dolphins – one of the females barely had any flippers left. Very sad.

After the first dolphin talk we took a glimpse at the beluga whales before heading back inside to check out the shark tank. They only had little sharks, no great whites like we do. They did have a tank with an octopus in it. Oh my lord! I’d never seen one before, well, other than in the supermarket deli or crumbed as calamari. The Octopus was jammed in the corner of the tank though so the reflection didn’t make for a great photo. Then it was in to see the Jellies. They had moon jellies and blue bottles and about 7 others. Its animals like that that keep me out of the ocean. Well… that and an unusual allery to salt water.

Done with the Jellyfish, it was over to the Beluga enclosure for feeding time. They have 5 belugas in total but two of them are BABIES! They are so ugly they’re adorable and gorgeous! Baby belugas are born grey in colour and as they age, they shed their skin and become a lighter colour until they turn white. So strange. But they were just delightful to watch. Sam got some wonderful photos of them while I got some video action!

We got some hot chips after the beluga show to heat us up and then headed into the new Canada Arctic display with information on belugas, polar bears, orcas and more. It also had the viewing platform for the belugas. The divers had just cleaned the tanks, so it was a little cloudy with algae but we got some awesome photos and video.

The exit from the Canada Arctic display came out at the sea otters enclosure and OH MY GOD. A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E! They were just brilliant! One was sleeping on his back with a maple leaf just being held on his belly by his paws. The other was having fun playing with a rock. The videos are AMAZING and came out so much better than the photos because of the raindrops on the glass.

It was then down to the frog display which we bypassed and the viewing platform for the dolphins before we wandered through the gift shop and then out the door.

We had lunch brought from home in the park before we headed out in search of 3 more Supernatural filming locations. We got a little lost trying to find Cleveland Dam – turns out we didn’t go far enough north so we’ll head over there again tomorrow. We did however find The Corner Cafe, where Sam and Dean grabbed a bite to eat in season 4, episode 15, “Death Takes A Holiday”. We bought two large coffees for a total of $3.75. They were awesome too. Got some photos of Sam with the table they sat at in the background, because these two other girls, who were also there because of Supernatural, were already sitting there.

Anyway we got some photos, including the autographed thank you from Jensen and Jared and headed out again. A few minutes east was St Paul’s Indian Catholic Church. It’s a beautiful building in reality. Thankfully the rain held off while we got photos of the building.

Tonight we got the internet working so we’ve been catching up on the world and Sam’s now going to do some work for Clintonius Maximus while I watch Supernatural!!!! On TV while it airs for the first time – I’m ECSTATIC!

It’s been a great day – again!