VANCOUVER ISLAND

Vancouver Island is not far from Vancouver itself. It was languishing for a number of years but now has revitalised itself thanks largely to tourism. The island is roughly 300kms long and is home to about 700,000 people. Victoria is the largest city and also BC Provincial capital and has a population of 325,000 people. We caught a BC ferry from Tsawwassen which is south of Vancouver and it landed at Swartz Bay which is 27kms north of Victoria. The crossing cost $69 for car, driver and one passenger and took 90 minutes which passed quickly as the scenery was so pretty.


We only had 2 days on the island so we had to be selective with what we chose to do. One of the most popular attractions was whale watching so that is what we chose to do. It cost us each $110 for a 4 hour tour in a Zodiac and in many respects the boat ride was as exciting as seeing the whales. Sometimes we were 8 ft up in the air and you had to careful how you were sitting when you landed as you could have easily injured yourself. The most common whale seen during the summer months are the killer whale or orca which return each year to feed on the salmon. They are essentially a large matrilineal family group and once a calf is born it will stay with its mother for the rest of its life, occasionally straying to a neighbouring pod to mate but always returning.


We also saw quite a number of seals and seabirds as well. We had to get suited up in full weatherproof suits which also acted as buoyancy suits and the photo below shows Wayne, ready to leave, standing in front of the zodiac.


We camped for 2 nights at an RV Park on a beach which sounds better than it really was as the beaches leave a lot to be desired. Dark and pebbly with lots of wrack on the sand itself. Nonetheless we had a quiet spot surrounded by lots of fruit trees.


As well as our whale watching tour we also toured the harbour front of Victoria. We saw the Parliament buildings, an old historic hotel and Fisherman's Wharf. Most of the activities leave from the harbour itself, in fact it is a very busy passenger area with seaplanes leaving every few minutes from the wharf. There are many flights to Vancouver but also around the island as well.


The day we left we also visited The Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay on the Saanich Peninsula. This is one of the island's top tourist destinations and at $26 a person is very good value. Altogether there are 20 hectares of manicured gardens laid out in various individual theme gardens. Perhaps the prettiest and most peaceful themed garden was the Japanese which was very well done. Below you can see various photos of Wayne and I throughout the gardens. Another special garden was the rose garden which had an enormous variety of roses.



Rose arbour and one of the very traditional manicured gardens throughout. The one below could be from a postcard.



We caught the 2pm ferry back to Tsawwassen and then drove south to cross the US border north of Seattle in Washington State. We decided not to go into Seattle as we were on a tight schedule and had to sacrifice certain places and sights. Nonetheless our time doing the Trans Canada Crossing was memorable to say the least.