Sunday 9th April – The Ferry to Vancouver Island

Window-view of the sea

We left the campsite at 1020am for the short drive to the port for Harvey's first time on a ferry! For those who may consider taking an RV across the water, we definitely benefited from being a party of four rather than just us two.  There is a basic price for vehicles up to 20’ in length but then on top of that you have to pay an extra CAD 6.50 per foot (so CAD 65.00 in our case) plus CAD 12.70 per person. It came in at roughly CAD 185 each way, that’s about £120 with the current exchange rate.  But it’s a 90-minute crossing, so comparable to the channel crossing really. Having seen signs about possible whale and dolphin sightings we stayed by a window just in case - but they stayed away today. However, we enjoyed the lovely views as you weave in between islands on the way into Schwartz Bay, to the north of Victoria:

Harvey's spot in the 'oversized' area on board the ferry

 From there is was a 20-minute drive south to Victoria where the issue of parking reared its head. There was free ‘on road’ Sunday parking but with the sun making an appearance the City was packed and we couldn't find a free spot so opted to get a double space in a car park for two hours.  Hopefully, any passing traffic wardens would agree that we had paid our dues fairly for both spaces.

We wandered the harbour, where there were some beautiful classic buildings....

Old Victoria Custom House

....before going for lunch in a restaurant right on the water’s edge:

Having discussed the idea of ‘Escape Rooms’ that we’d tried before leaving the UK, we continued to walk and nearly did a horror-themed Escape room that we found just round the corner.  But at CAD 35 each, plus extra parking required, we decided that it was too much.  I then detoured the group via Christie's heritage pub to buy a baseball cap for my mate Daren back home, hopefully buying the right colour?!   

We then hit the road towards Tofino on the west coast. But this island's bigger than we thought! The Satnav estimated a 4.5 hour drive but then with added stops for a couple of vistas

....and a road closure following a serious incident, we were making even slower progress and it was clear that Tofino was a stretch too far for today!

Simon came up with plan B and we headed to Rathtrevor Beach provincial Park on the east coast for the Bailey’s first taste of camping without hook-ups. Luckily, we arrived in time for a waner onto the beach with views of water, islands and mountains ahead of us:

Then Si and Stu got busy building a massive fire while we made an easy dinner of pesto pasta.  An awesome night - we were comfy by the fire, complete with marshmallows, a guitar singalong, quantities of red wine and good company. Hopefully we can recreate this night numerous times whilst the Baileys are with us.