Sonya's Blog - Day 326 - Ferry to Victoria

Sonya’s Blog - Day 326 - May 13th - Ferry to Victoria, BC

We are going home to Canada today!!! We are all very excited. The States are nice, but we love Canada and miss it when we are away. The kids have never been to Victoria and Blake has only been once. I have been many times and we even lived here for one year when I was in Grade 8, and I still love to go back. Such a pretty city.

We got up at 6 and were all packed up and on the road by 6:30, which is a new record for us. That is our fastest hooking up and getting on the road for this entire trip and it is the earliest we have ever been on the road.

We got to the ferry terminal at 6:45. We had to check in, get measured, pay the balance due and then line up and wait for boarding. We now know how long our whole contraption is (truck with the fifth wheel and the bike rack on the back) - 57 feet. I had guessed, when I did the reservation, that we were 50 feet. For the ferry, you are allowed so many feet at the base fare and then you pay for every linear foot that you are over. Our total bill ended up being $325 US, for an hour and a bit ferry ride. Whoo hoo, that is expensive. We will have to pay a similar fare when we take the BC Ferry over to Vancouver at the end of the week. Not cheap to bring your RV on a ferry, that is for sure. We got all squared away and were on the hunt for breakfast by 7:15. We had to back in our truck and ready to board by 7:45. There was a coffee shop that sold breakfast sandwiches, that was nearby, so we grabbed some of those and ate in the truck while we waited.

Waiting for the Ferry:

Boarding the ferry was fun, they sure jam you in there. We were so tight to the big bus RV next to us, our awnings were almost touching. There was actually room in front of our truck, but we couldn’t pull up any further due to the awning situation. Here is the picture:

Boarding the ferry:

All crammed in:

Once we were parked we headed up to the decks. We were allowed to take Kizmet with us, she just wasn’t allowed inside. On the top deck, there was a covered area with chairs, but it wasn’t inside and she was allowed to be there. I went up there with Kizmet and Blake and the kids set up at a table in the lounge area. Isaac got to work on his stop motion animation movie and Natasha was busy working on her blogs. Blake bought a coffee and a tea and came up and joined me on the top deck. It was nice up there, because we still got the fresh air, but were protected from the cool morning air. Kizmet was a little nervous and did not like the ship’s horn, but she just laid down and took it all in stride. The Juan de Fuca Straight was super calm, which was amazing, so the ferry ride was very smooth indeed. That worked out great for me, no sea sickness.

Leaving Port Angeles:

The kids are all set up:

We arrived in the Victoria Harbour at about 9:35 and were off the boat before 10.

The breakwater at Ogden Point, from the ferry:

Arriving in Victoria Harbour:

We had to got through Canadian Customs as soon as we disembarked. We got flagged for an inspection, which is not surprising considering how many times we have crossed back and forth over the border in the past year. They were all very polite and friendly about it and the one guard brought out water for Kizmet. They searched the truck and the RV and then we were on our way. No big deal and nothing got confiscated.

Our campground is in Esquimalt at West Bay Marina, so we are right on the water across from the Victoria Harbour. Awesome!! It is pretty tight RV site, but we managed to get it in and start setting up. It took us awhile to set up, we had some levelling problems, but we were ready to go by noon. We met our neighbours, from Saskatchewan, and they are just lovely people. We had a nice chat with them. We then dealt with Bell Mobility to make sure that our cell plans are exactly what we need for the rest of our trip. We had taken our plan down to the bare necessities, due to the fact that we had US plans while we were in the States. We couldn’t cancel our plan altogether, as my phone is still under contract. We got that all taken care of and were ready to do stuff.

The Marine Village Houses, right beside our campground:

Views from our campsite:

First we walked up the street to Tim Horton’s for some lunch. Blake also brought the computer, so that he could apply for another job. We got that all taken care of and then we walked back to the campground, hopped in the truck and went to look around Victoria. The kids wanted to see where I had lived when we lived in Victoria for that one year. We lived in an area called James Bay, on San Jose Avenue which is just off Dallas Road. It is near the Ogden Point Breakwater, which is where the cruise ships dock. We went there and walked on the beach and then on the breakwater. This area is much busier and trendier than when we lived here. Lots of tours go through the area and there is now a Breakwater Cafe at the breakwater. There are fancy guardrails on the breakwater now, so you cannot fall off if you happen to get too close to the edge. Now, I have walked on that breakwater many, many times and never fallen off, but there weren’t nearly as many people walking on it back then. We had an enjoyable time and it was just a beautiful day.

Exploring the beach at James Bay. Ogden Point Breakwater in background and the cruise ships:

At the end of the breakwater, we walked on the top all the way to the lighthouse:

On the way back we walked on the steps below:

It was getting close to supper, so we decided to head out. We still had to find a grocery store, as we were low on groceries. We accomplished our task and headed back to have supper.

Look at the guy on the bike, closest to our truck. It is one of those bikes with the big front wheel and little back one, he was just cruising along:

We had a lovely supper outside, it was still so warm out. After supper Blake and I headed over to the marina to check out the water taxi service and to give Kizmet an after supper walk. Isaac was on dishes duty, as Natasha had helped with supper.

We found the water taxi place, it is $20 return (each) to get over to Victoria Harbour. A tad pricey, but we might do it once. There was a nice path that went along West Marine Harbour, so we walked it for a bit to see what it was like. It was very nice.

When we got back, we decided to it outside because it was still really nice. Our Saskatchewan neighbours returned not long afterwards and they were all dressed up. The gentleman had a tux on with a top hat and the lady had on a lovely dress. They were out meeting the people who get off the cruise ships and helping them decide what to do with their time in Victoria. They volunteer their time to do this, like goodwill ambassadors. So we chatted with them about that and some other stuff. Then they told us about a fire in this campground a couple of months ago. The bus next to them caught fire and completely burned down. It destroyed the fifth wheel next to it and the one next to that. It was in this spot that we are now occupying, so it was next to their RV. They had some damage, but due to luck their RV was not very damaged. I checked out the story on it and this article had a video of the fire:

http://victoriabuzz.com/2016/03/fire-destroys-motor-home-west-bay-rv-park-esquimalt-video/

The owner of the fifth wheel that was damaged keeps a blog, and this is their posting talking about the fire and what happened:

http://www.ourhomehas6wheels.com/tragedy-strikes/

Super crazy, I can’t believe how huge the fire was. If you watch the video, you can hear all the explosions happening. The tires blew up and the propane tanks, just insane. I guess the owners had a small freezer in one of their lower compartments. There was a short in the plug, or somewhere in the electrical, and that is where the fire started. The owner’s were awoken by the fire alarm and managed to get out with their dog. The guy almost had the fire out with his fire extinguisher, but then the extinguisher ran out (he just had the little one that comes with the RV) and in no time at all the whole unit was engulfed in flames.

That’s it for me today.

Sonya