Photos forth coming!
Overnight we departed our beloved Alaska on Friday the 25th and cruised to Vancouver via the Pacific Ocean. We covered about 600 nautical miles over the 36 hour journey. It was rather nice have a quiet day. From the Pacific we sailed to Queen Charlotte Straight before entering Johnstone Straight on the way to Seymour Narrows. The narrows is an infamous stretch of water when the tidal stream is funneled through a 750 meter wide gap and currents can run up to 16 knots. After the straights we were off the shore of Vancouver Island and will cruise through the Straight of Georgia.
Early in the evening a small power boat approached our huge ship. The man stopped his engines, pulled out a trumped and began playing “Oh Canada” followed by the Star Spangled Banner and concluding with When the Saints Go Marching In. It was quite the show. This segment of the cruise was absolutely beautiful sailing the Inside Passage. After 14 days we saw a real sunset and watched a gigantic full moon come up over the mountains. Everything was breathtaking.
We had to be out of our stateroom by 8A. We arose about 6 and at 6:45 we were sailing under Vancouver’s famous Lion Gate Bridge before arriving at our berth in Vancouver at precisely 7. At 8 we were in the Universal Lounge waiting for our disembarkment instructions. The ship’s berth was at Canada Place right downtown in the harbor. I had remembered seeing this while watching the Winter Olympics.
By 9 we had cleared customs and collected our baggage. Get this, the luggage was placed in a color coded area corresponding to our departure group and arranged in alphabetical order so collecting it was a snap…almost too easy. So we left the comfort of the Princess Cruise world where everything was so structured and entered the real world of commercial transportation. We were scheduled to depart at 11 so we had to wait about 90 minutes before boarding the Pacific Coach to travel to Victoria. We had the opportunity to visit with some Victorian natives who gave us the inside scoop of where to eat and drink
It took about an hour for the motorcoach to get to the ferry. The ferry ride, about 90 minutes, took us though the real inside passage. There were lots of fast mixed currents that the ferry captain skillfully handled. We traveled through rugged stone islands. There were many of sailboats out taking advantage of the strong winds and sunny skies.
I told Doug that this is what I think heaven would be like. The only thing that might be missing would be some snow capped mountains. In all it took us about 4 hours to travel from Vancouver to Victoria. We entered the city from the north and were situated on a tall crest and what was in front of me but the snow capped mountains of Washington State! We could even see Mt. Baker. Now I knew we were in heaven.
We are staying at the Fairmont Empress Hotel, a pretty heavenly establishment on its own. After struggling to find the lobby with our numerous pieces of luggage in tow we were graciously escorted to the front desk by a sales clerk from the china and tea shop. The young man took one look at us and without prompting said that he had upgraded our room, at no additional expense, because he thought we would be more comfortable. Now that is service! The hotel is absolutely spectacular.
The hotel sits overlooking the Victoria Inner Harbour. The Parliament House is off to the left. The harbor walk was filled with many street performers and artists selling their wares. We took a nice long walk and ended up at Barb’s Fish and Chips House on Fisherman’s Wharf. The restaurant came highly recommended by a local we met while waiting for the bus. Doug said it was the best he has ever hand and for those of you who know Doug he has had more than his fair share of fish and chips. We took a long walk along Dallas Street which extends from Fisherman’s Wharf to the cruise ship terminal and then headed up Oswego St.Victoria is a beautiful and livable city. Doug and I agree that it is the perfect place we have been searching for these past couple of decades.
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