This past weekend marked the beginning of the Savour Cowichan Festival in Vancouver Island’s beautiful Cowichan Valley. With 40 artisan food and beverage producers participating it will be an incredible 10 days of  tastings and special events in the Cowichan Valley. Savour Cowichan runs from September 26 to October 5, 2014, be sure to check it out!

After visiting Cherry Point Estate Wines, we moved on to the Creamery at Cheese Pointe Farm.

The Creamery at Cheese Point Farm

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of cheese. And wine tastes best when accompanied by cheese. So naturally after visiting Cherry Point Vineyard, our next stop was the Creamery at Cheese Pointe Farm.

Cheese Pointe Farm is family run by Hilary and Patty Abbott and features handcrafted cheese, artisan local treats and cheese tours.

I just loved the artwork on their signage and the sign at the driveway made me giggle,

“Drive Slow, we have lots of animals and a deaf cat.”

Unfortunately the cheese maker was away at the local Farmer’s Market, so we were unable to take a tour of the cheese making process, but I’ll be sure to go back soon to check that out. We did get a chance to sample some of the delicious local cheeses: camembert, blue cheese, squeaky cheese curds and a selection of flavoured cream cheeses. They were all simply delicious, the camembert was my favourite!

Not only was the cheese delicious, the Cheese Pointe Farm itself was lovely.

Cheese Pointe Farm is located at 1282 Cherry Point Road in Cowichan Bay, BC. They are openFriday to Sunday 11am to 5pm. Follow The Creamery at Cheese Pointe Farm on Facebook.

What’s your favourite cheese?

Update: We’ve been notified that the farm at the Creamery at Cheese Pointe has been sold and will no longer be making cheese at this location. The nearest option would be Hilary’s Cheese in Cowichan Bay.

I ran into this Vancouver Island garter snake yesterday while watering the garden and managed to get quite close to take this video. He was actually quite curious and came to check out my iPhone while I took the video before slithering away.

About Garter Snakes

Most garter snakes have a pattern of yellow stripes on a brown or green background and their average length is about 55 cm, with a maximum length of about 137 cm. 

Garter snakes are very thin snakes. Most have longitudinal stripes in many different colours. They come in a wide range of colours including: green, blue, yellow, gold, red, orange, brown, and black. In summer, they are most active in the morning and late afternoon; in cooler seasons or climates, they restrict their activity to the warm afternoons.

The saliva of a garter snake may be toxic to amphibians and other small animals. For humans, a bite is not dangerous, though it may cause slight itching, burning, and/or swelling. Most garter snakes also secrete a foul-smelling fluid from postanal glands when handled or harmed. [source: Wikipedia]

This isn’t the first time I’ve run into a garter snake in my garden though, I saw another one (or maybe even the same one?) in the same spot just a few weeks ago and snapped this photo:

Have you ever been up close and personal with a snake? Please share your story in the comments below.

This photo was taken in Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island just after Christmas 2009.

For more images from this day, please visit Flickr.

For my dad’s birthday this year, rather than have a big party, my dad wanted to spend some quality time with the family. With this request in mind, my mom drove down the beautiful Cowichan Bay, on Vancouver Island and booked a whale watching tour with Ocean Ecoventures.

We arrived at the storefront location, which doubles as an art gallery, and were provided with full-body, wind proof, Helly Hansen flotation suits for the day’s adventure. It was the first really hot day of the summer so the need for the suits didn’t seem to make sense, but once we were out and speeding across the water I was grateful to have it.

Once suited up, we made our way down to the zodiac was moored and were given a quick but detailed safety lesson for the trip by Simon Pidcock, owner/operator of Ocean Ecoventures. Before taking off, he took this group shot!

We barely left the harbour when we caught our first glimpse of ocean wildlife. A harbour seal swam by about twenty feet from the boat!

After about a 45 minute boat ride (with gorgeous B.C. views), we arrived to an area where the orcas tend to hang out and play around. Simon told us of all kinds of interesting facts, behaviours and statistics about the whales. He was very knowledgeable and much of the information was astounding!

Whales were not the only wildlife we saw on the trip. After watching and following the orcas for a couple of hours, we headed back to Cowichan Bay. He took us into a kelp bed, where he showed us that kelp is amazingly strong, and that it has an unbelievable growth rate, as well as many benefits to the ocean and its’ creatures. We even took a kelp leaf out of the water and ate it. Yep, it’s edible!

Other creatures we came across were several bald eagles as well as a bald eagle nest, a couple of ospreys and their nest of young, and of course a lot of seals hanging out on the logs.

All in all we had an AMAZING experience! Unreal photographic opportunities! And we were lucky with phenomenal weather!

If you are planning a trip to Vancouver Island and are looking for a fun adventure in the Cowichan Valley, an Ocean Ecoventures Whale Watching tour with Simon Pidcock should definitely be on your itinerary!

A few tips for your trip:

• Bring your best camera and best zoom/telephoto lens for the trip. I was afraid my gear would get wet, so I left it behind, but not a drop of water made it inside the boat! (*kicking myself!*)
• Wear SUNSCREEN! Even on a cloudy day you are susceptible to sunburn.
• Bring sunglasses and a hat to wear while floating around watching the whales.
• Wear closed toed shoes.
• Bring a bottle of water.
• Ask lots of questions, Simon knows his stuff!

For more information about Ocean Ecoventures, visit their website, and follow them on Twitter and Facebook. And be sure to check out some of Simon’s beautiful whale photography on Flickr.

Ocean Ecoventures Whale Watching is located at:
1721 Cowichan Bay Road, Cowichan Bay
Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Local – 250 748 3800
Toll Free – 1 866 748 5333

Have you taken a whale watching tour? Please share your experience in the comments.