Day 31 May 20th Victoria

       

a good sailing day

Today we arrived back in

Canadian highway 1st milestone

Canada. From when we stirred until lunchtime we were cruising along the coast of Vancouver Island. It was overcast and did not appear very warm as we ventured out onto the verandah. The captain promised us a warmer

day when we docked and so it proved that it was about 15C and the clouds

Beacon Hill Park

cleared. We had decided our plans for a walking day which was all doable from where

Beacon Hill Park

the ship docked.

We left the boat at about 1330 and set out initially towards Beacon Hill Park. We started with jumpers and fleeces but soon we removed our fleeces. We saw the beginning (mile 0) of the trans Canadian

totem pole

highway. The initial reaction for the park was not too favourable as this part was unkempt but when we got

totem pole with sea otters

to the centre there were some lovely flowers, bushes, fountains and ponds with ducks. We carried on through and arrived on Douglas Street which appeared to be one of the main shopping streets. On the street was a first nation museum with totem poles one of which seemed to have a sea otter with its baby depicted. We stopped at Starbucks for a cold drink (it was quite sunny and warm) and then wandered along the harbour front.

Fairmont Empress Hotel

The Fairmont Empress hotel was impressive with flower Orcas in the garden and opposite was

flower orcas at the Fairmont

a statue of Captain James Cook. We carried on to the classic government building which had the war memorial in a corner of the grounds. We then followed the harbour wall path past the colourful fishermen’s wharf which now appears

the government building

to have been taken over by commercial enterprises. As we made our way back we came across (appropriately)

FishermensWharf

a cute family of Canada geese. We made our way back to the ship via a peruse of the quayside gift shop.

It was a good day at a very attractive downtown area of

Canada Geese family

the city. We spent the rest of the evening sorting ourselves out, having dinner then saying goodbye to the crew members who had looked after us so well. We returned to our cabin to pack as we are leaving fairly early tomorrow morning. We did watch the ship exit the port at about 2230. Next stop Seattle.