Victoria, Canada

July 15th, 2017

History

Founded: Fort Victoria (named in honor of Queen Victoria) was established as a trading post in 1843.

Region: Greater Victoria is located in the province of British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.

Population: 80,000 within the metropolitan area and about 345,000 in Greater Victoria.

Climate: Victoria boasts some of the most moderate weather in Canada. It offers 2,183 hours of sunshine a year and an average rainfall of 26.2 inches. Spring and summer months are in the temperature range from 65 – 90 degrees F.

Victoria is home to the Hudson Bay Company, established in 1843. Victoria is considered Canada’s most “British City” and showcases elegant Victorian and Edwardian-era mansions and impressive architectural landmarks, including the Craigdarroch Castle. Built by Scotsman Robert Dunsmuir who discovered the richest seam of coal on Vancouver Island. He became the richest man in BC and built the 39 room Craigdarroch, that now revels in priceless antiques.

“City of Gardens”: No matter what season, Victoria is always in bloom: cherry blossoms in January, tulips in March, fragrant lilacs in May, and regal roses in summer and fall. But the biggest draw is in Brentwood Bay, where the Butchart Gardens hosts more than one million visitors each year: 55 acres of magnificent landscaped grounds and themed pavilions provide a truly unique aesthetic experience.

Victoria… land ho

Sailing all day and night we arrive in Victoria, Canada at 7am. It was 59 degrees and sunny – Yahoo! We hadn’t seen much of the sun since we left San Francisco – except for intermittent peak-a-boos. On our journey south, we saw dolphins and whales swimming parallel to the ship off in the distance.

Victoria was once a rough and rowdy home to 25,000 gold prospectors. Today Victoria exudes a genteel air as we step ashore. All around the harbor are marvelous hanging flower baskets and planters. Obviously flowers love the sun, water and humidity and Victoria takes pride in welcoming her visitors with gorgeous displays of color. The one thing I would like to do someday is to have High Tea at the Gatsby Mansion: ah, another time.

“Ocean Wildlife and Orca Exploration Cruise”

We went ashore at 8am for an 8:30 excursion to, hopefully, see some Orca whales this time. We boarded a large catamaran with about 50 other passengers on this crystal blue day. On the cat we could choose to be forward in the open and breezy air, inside the cabin or at the rear of the boat (where there was much less wind than the forward deck).

We headed out of the harbor at full speed and after the safety information talk we headed up to the forward deck. We traveled out between the United States side and the Canadian side in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, straddling that invisible line in the ocean differentiating separate countries.

Our guides, Courtney and Cory were telling us that all the whale watching boats communicate with each other and share sightings as they want all their sightseers to get the chance to see as many whales as possible.

Out on the forward deck it was cold, very windy and the possibility of getting wet from the over spray of the wake was a definite possibility. As luck would have it, we did not get wet even though it was quite choppy with the boat racing through the water and the wind.

I was thinking, it was a good day for a fast ride on a catamaran through the choppy water – even if we didn’t see any whales… There was no guarantee if we did not see any whales on this excursion. Then the first whale spout appeared in the distance and the captain raced for the white mist.

At one sighting we saw 2 Humpback whales traveling in unison, which is quite unusual – as they are mostly solitary creatures. At first, our guides thought it was a mama and a calf, but they were both too big for one of them to be a calf.

It was so exhilarating racing along the strait trying to catch up with the whales. At one point one of the solitary whales did a ‘cartwheel’ out of the water – sadly I went inside to get out of the wind, for a moment, and missed the show. I did not know whales were capable of doing cartwheels – I can’t even do a cartwheel!

This adventure allowed us to see numerous whales – it was hard to tell how many because we would chase the spouts then turn and chase other spouts and all whales look alike to the untrained eye. Most of the excursions we took, whether it was whale watching or the river excursion, had Marine Biologists on staff – which was great for us regular folks and their information was priceless.

The knowledge we gleaned from the Marine Biologists was impressive and most of the ones on our tours were mid 20’s and female (and again they NEVER TIRE of seeing ocean or land creatures).

On our way back to the harbor we passed the Race Lighthouse and our Catamaran was the first to see the sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks by the lighthouse this season. The sea lions were immense as they lounged on the rocks. As we looked closer, we also saw harbor seals AND a bald eagle hanging out on the far side of the rocks.

 

This lighthouse still has a job, although now automated, but one of the few that are still active. Unlike the Upper Peninsula trip to Copper Harbor last fall, where the lighthouses are mostly museums now. GPS has made most lighthouses obsolete.

At the base of the lighthouse there were a couple of elephant seals – they were huge a lot larger than the sea lions, and we heard they are mean (glad we are on a boat). I must say, it is not so easy to take pictures when the water is choppy and the boat is ‘a-rockin’.

Breakwater Café

We returned to the harbor around 11:30am and didn’t have to be back on the ship till 1:30pm, so we decided to hunt down a place to eat with a harbor view. We asked around and the Breakwater Café was highly recommended and just beyond where the ship was docked, within easy walking distance for Patti. We were all famished from sitting on a fast moving catamaran, holding our balance while trying to take steady pictures of whales, sea lions, sea otters and elephant seals = very hard work!!!

The food was excellent and we ate outside on the patio in the sun with glass partitions for a windbreak: soooo nice to relish in the sun. All of us had different burgers: a veggie, a chicken and a beef crowned with fresh red tomatoes, lettuce, onion and a salad on the side… oh yeah, and a beer each. After lunch we took a walk on the beach and along the boardwalk. Off in the distance kids were flying kites on the waves of the wind.

Leaving the restaurant and beach we went back and stood in a l-o-n-g line to re-board the ship for our final destination, San Francisco, CA USA. We will sail the rest of the day (Saturday), through the night and all day and night Sunday arriving in San Francisco Monday by 7am.

 

Our cruise was simply marvelous! We all enjoyed the wildness of Alaska, seeing the many magnificent creatures along the way (by water and land) and meeting people of different lands and cultures. The food was GREAT, the wine/drinks were EXCELLENT, the sights were SPLENDID, and the comradery was SUPERB. I think I can speak for all of us and say, “a good time was had by all”.

And so all things come to an end and now we are back Stateside and glad to be home.

Thanks for traveling along with us, hope you enjoyed the cruise!