Vancouver Island - Humpback whales

We took a boat trip to Vancouver Island for the day.  On the way there we saw humpback whales.

Vancouver Island was beautiful, and I'd love to go back and see a lot more of it, but it was a bit overshadowed today by our whale sightings.  We did go to Butchart Gardens which were as beautiful as we'd been told - but man there were a lot of people there!  I know we're here as tourists as much as they all are but it wasn't nice being crowded up with so many other tourists.  It didn't even feel that crowded on the cruise ship last week.

The extra is of the whale's back when it rose right beside our ferry.