Whiffin Spit is one of our favourite places to visit on our visits to British Columbia. It is wonderful place to go for a walk and enjoy the sounds of the water and the shorebirds and other critters that are found there.
Located in Sooke on Vancouver Island it is a spit of land that juts out from the mainland. The protected Sooke basin waters are on one side, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca is the other side. There are some awesome aerial images at this site. I wish I had the opportunity to take photos like that, how about you?
I did take this long distance photo from the other side of the Sooke Basin on a foggy morning looking towards Whiffin Spit.
Walking right to the end takes you to the lighthouse and along the way there are rocky beaches and driftwood structures.
In the many little bays and inlets you can see all sorts of water and shore birds. We’ve been fortunate to see black oyster catchers, eagles, mergansers and harlequin ducks, dowitchers and yellow legs to mention a few.
A Christmas tradition on Whffin Spit is to decorate one of the trees for Christmas. I’ve been told there are some Santa helpers there that faithfully put up and take down ornaments that survive the year. Many people take decorations to hang on the tree. Recently our grandson’s preschool class went and added some treasures they had made. Unfortunately we weren’t there, but thanks to modern technology it seems like we were.
You can see from this photo taken in July 2015 that it isn’t a wide stretch of land, and you have a good view of the water as you walk along the path.
Have a look at some of the other BC birds we have spotted.
