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| Day 11 Harrison Hotsprings to Victoria on Vancouver Island (and Whale Watching!) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7:30ish then the pools | BC Day today. Awoke at 7:30sh. That's no good, need to wake up at 10 to 8 'cos the outside pool doesn't open till then, whereas the sulphur spring (40C) has been open all night! Up at 8 and straight into sulphur plunge for the 10 minutes maximum, then several lengths in the outside ordinary pool to cool off. One final plunge in the spring and back to room to shower and pack. Well actually, I stood in front of the fan trying to cool down from the hot spring final dip! |
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| 10:00ish | Breakfast at the coffee shop in the hotel lobby. Sticky bun or bagel and a drink. Another flunky to bring cases to the front and away we go - me driving this time. |
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| The ferry from Tsawwassen - via lots of Langley | Mary directed operations as I drove. Had a little drive round Langley - just to while away a bit of time - nothing to do with lack of signposts! Eventually turned up at Tsawwassen for the ferry - 7 minutes to 1. Timetable said stop loading 5 mins to sailing, which was 1pm. Made it on board 3 minutes to 1. Got a seat and we were underway 4 minutes past 1 - what timing!
The ferry threads its way through many small islands on its way to Vancouver Island.
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| 2:45 first off the ferry | As we were almost last on, we were virtually first off, so we were on Highway 17 towards Victoria by 2:45. Again using Mary's directions found the hotel OK with its free car park - 11th floor rear left corner so we can actually see the harbour from one end of the balcony - but Mary and I get tingly legs every time we go out onto it. |
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| Exploring our surroundings | 4:15ish Decided to sort out the 'lie of the land'. Saw the concierge and asked him which Whale Watchers to go with. He suggested Prince of Whales, well that seems fitting so we went to see them about tomorrow. No problems - however girl said loads today so why don't we go on the last trip at 5:30 today? Deffo from us so we paid and dashed back for girls to change into shorts and T shirts more suitable to wear under exposure suits. |
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| Whale Watching | Then dash back to find food at a deli near the harbour then eagerly down at 5:10 to get kitted out - only to find the boat will be a bit late as it has to refuel.
These boats are zodiacs so you are 'outside' all the time and need survival suits. Eventually set off with Ross our captain and 2 other families of 4. Easy thru' the harbour then speed up across the first sound - lots of waves, bouncing and wet people on that side (eg Mary).
Don't want to spend too much time over what happened next but, loads of killer whales everywhere. Also loads of whale watcher boats. Saw males, females and calves. Over there, really close, breaching, milling around etc. Spent longer than the other day trips as we were last of the day. Brilliant - took loads of photos as well but don't hold out much hope of them turning out. Who cares - we saw and heard it all there and then! |
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| An exciting ride home | Now we come to the journey back. The captain is young, 7 of the 12 passengers are teenagers, the boat is a very strong zodiac. Result - 40 minutes of roller coaster ride with bumps! Tremendous fun - really jarred us a few times and everyone was wet. Stopped near the shore not far from the harbour entrance to spot a threesome of transient killer whales - male, female and calf. The fin on the male was huge. These transients are the ones that take seagulls, small dogs etc. The residents that we had been watching are social creatures that hunt salmon. After that a short burst again, then slow down into the harbour. Dusk to dark by the time we had landed and removed our kit.
But what a great day! |
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| 9pm ish - another search for food | Walked the streets looking for a snack. Found a store that didn't close until 10 and got crisps, pop, cereal and milk. Back home for supper and to feel really smug about what we had seen. Also very relieved that we had achieved on the first day what had actually brought us to the island in the first place! The pressure is off and we can do more tomorrow. Great, Mary has had her glacier and I have had the marine mammals.
Today was a national holiday and a Monday. The flower wholesalers had nowhere to sell their blooms so 10,000 were given away - how nice. This means that loads of women were walking around with individual blooms and dreamy looks - how nice.
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