Whale watching and attempting to bike ride!

Our first port of call was Vancouver Island which is situated, as you would expect, off the coast of Canada near Vancouver. It did mean getting a ferry across which took abut 90 mins.

Our RV park was situated about 15 mins outside Victoria, which is the capital of the island. Arrival time was about 7.30pm, so we plugged in and settled in for the night. As this was our 3rd night in Canada, we were still a touch jetlagged so it was an early night.

The plan for the following morning was to go whale watching in the Pacific Ocean, so we hopped on the local bus, which dropped us off right in the centre of Victoria. After a short walk and we arrived at Orca Spirit tours which is where we met Geoff, our very cool captain / tour guide for the day, and the 4 other shipmates who had signed up for the tour. Once we had been fitted up with our lifejackets, we were off.

Cazzie in a very fetching life jacket!

So we were off. Once we have obeyed the speed limits in the harbour, we reached our cruising velocity of 55 mph and started our search. Captain Geoff was constantly on the CB radio, walkie talkie and mobile phone speaking to all other boats in the area, sharing information about where the whales were. Before we found our whales, we stopped off to view the sea lions that were all gathered on a large rock.

These guys weigh about 1 tonne each!

The radio then buzzed with news that there were 5 humpback whales in the area so it was full speed ahead! These humpback whales only appear off the Island for 7 weeks a year on their way to Hawaii, so we were very fortunate to have found them. As we approached we could see their huge tails slapping about in the water.

A tail span of 4 metres and a humpback can weigh up to 36 tonnes

There is something really special about seeing these guys in their natural environment. We have all seen whales at SeaWorld, and don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing what they have trained them to do, but to see them in the open ocean was quite something. One thing I didn’t appreciate was the foul stench of their breath when they surfaced and blew water our of their blow hole.

We stayed around here for about 30 mins with 5 or so other boats before we had to leave. Unfortunately there were no sightings of any Orcas in the area, so my SeaWorld memories will have to do.

Captain Geoff then dropped us all off in a pretty central location in Victoria where, after a quick bite to eat, we started to wander around to see what this place was like. It’s very British with a huge statue of Queen Victoria overlooking the harbour. We meandered through the town, popping into the local boutiques, sampling the freshly made fudge and visiting the Christmas Market. It’s a lovely city and it’s a very desirable (and expensive ) place to live.

The next day we were leaving the Island for Harrison Hot Springs, and decided to take to scenic route back to the ferry.

A view to die for!

This drive took about an hour and was amazing. This route was littered with stunning mansions all with beautiful view of the lake and mountains.

We arrived at the ferry terminal hoping to catch the 2pm ferry, only to be greeted with a massive queue and a ticket for the 5pm crossing. This meant we arrived at our next destination at about 9pm!

The RV park in Harrison Hot Springs was only about 2 kms from the town, so this was the first chance we had to get on our bikes. I was a bit worried that we might look a bit silly with our helmets etc, but I think we managed to pull it off quite well. It was a real laugh from start to finish as we hadn’t ridden bikes for ages and were pretty much all over the place and couldn’t stop giggling!

My favourite bit is the trousers tucked into the socks!

We cycled around for about 3 hours to see the place, but the source for the hot spring water was 2 hours drive up the mountains, so we were unable to see it, which was a shame. The water comes out of the spring at 65 degrees C and they have to cool it down before you can swim in it. We could have swam in the local pool that was fed from the springs, but it looked just like a normal swimming pool, so we knocked that idea on the head. I’m sure there will be plenty more opportunities to have a splash in an outdoor hot spring in the near future.

After another drive in the RV to take in more scenic views, we parked up back at the RV site, opened a bottle of wine (or 3), hopped onto the free wireless network and watched X-Factor!!

Harrison Hot Springs is beautiful, and I imagine a real hot spot in the summer.

All the photos from Vancouver Island and Harrison Hot Springs can be found here.

Vancouver Island - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158526&id=502160409&l=01367625b1

Harrison - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158569&id=502160409&l=28408410ee

Next stop – Kelowna for wine tasting!

Lots of love

Stuoobs

xxx