Monday, 22 May. Vancouver Island

I had a better sleep last night as I was exhausted after all that very fresh air on the boat yesterday. My bed is like Mother Bear’s – way too soft… too close to the edge and it tips you out, further in and you sink down, expecting to be swallowed into the mattress. Fortunately once you’re settled it’s ok.

I was picked up around 9 am for a trip to Victoria and the Butchart Gardens. This involved a ferry crossing of about 1 1/2 hours, to Vancouver Island. It was very cold and breezy on deck but fortunately, though cloudy, there was no rain. We travelled between a number of islands. There was quite a bit of water traffic and lots of lovely houses on the edge of the water. Didn’t see any more whales but didn’t stay outside long enough to search. Saw a number of sea planes too.

The Butchart Gardens were every bit as good as people have told me. I was particularly impressed with the colour combinations in the borders. For some reason, forget-me-nots looked good there.  I rip them out as much as possible at home. I hate their sticky seeds.

Next stop was Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. The clouds disappeared and we arrived to blue sky and warmth. Had to find a very early dinner there (4.15ish) as we had to be back at the ferry terminal for the 7 pm crossing. It’s a long weekend here for Queen Victoria Day and Ed, our driver, was very concerned about the amount of traffic returning to Vancouver after the holiday. The queue at the ferry was not too bad, though the ferry was a bit late arriving. Sitting in the queue for the ferry was a good chance to scribble these thoughts down for later on, as it’s going to be a late night, and a very early start tomorrow.