Alaska, 2006
(or Northern Exposure)
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June 24, 2006 (Saturday)
Yup, still at sea, still done with gambling on this voyage.
We woke up (sort of) sometime around 10:00 by my reckoning. We ordered a continental breakfast via room service, which meant that we got to pay for food we were attempting to avoid in the buffet for free. Anyway, we ate and watched the end of Walk the Line on the SEA channel in our stateroom. Later, after a visit to the purser to confirm that the final tab had indeed cracked the over-under I'd guessed, we wound up in the duty-free shop. I went ahead and bought the Johnnie Walker Blue Label to remind myself that it would have been on the house earlier in the week—or even then, perhaps, if I'd stopped betting $25 chips at any time. We had lunch with the family at the Terrace Grill (great cheeseburgers), and then the family split off to enjoy the first day of unadulterated sunshine since leaving Seattle.
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The sun was vivid, the temperature mild to warm, and the sea as smooth as glass. I alternated between sitting poolside with Helene as she sunned that afternoon and strolling the deck. The Riviera Deck was jumping for the first time, with people all over the place, either in the pool (mostly kids) or sunning in the lounge chairs. I found myself reflecting a little upon the trip and discovering that I was by then ready for the trip to wind down, and for us to return to some semblance of normalcy (including not gambling away the farm). And although I was a little perplexed by that feeling, I'd reached my snow-capped peak saturation point. It's all lovely scenery, but I am, after all, an Atlantic coast flatlander at heart.
All this is to say that for the moment, I'm a little bored. We're sailing near Vancouver Island, there's a wide, smooth sea with some haze-enshrouded, snow-capped peaks in the distance on either side, blah, blah, blah.
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As Victoria neared, we stood near the bow and snapped off shots of the city, the pilot's boat departing, and the Port Angeles Ferry (M.V. Coho). The city was founded as a in 1843 by the Hudson's Bay Company as an outpost. A fort was established on the southern point of Vancouver Island and named Fort Victoria in honor of the queen. The city of Victoria was officially incorporated in 1862. Until the city of Vancouver's rise as a port and major population center, Victoria was the the largest city and commercial center in British Columbia. Victoria today has evolved as a city to which retirees and tourists flock; it is also home to a large commercial fishing industry and the Canadian Western Pacific Fleet.
It was also clear that folks haven't been lying about Victoria's reputation as one of the mildest climates in Canada. It's certainly not what anyone should expect of the Pacific Northwest. According to the weather people, Victoria's climate is due to the prevailing westerlies from the Pacific and the Olympic mountains that creates a low rainfall/high sunshine weather system that pretty much stays pleasant year-round. Think San Diego at a higher latitude.
We disembarked after going through the Deck 7 cattle drive for the gangplank. We were headed on the Victoria pub crawl excursion with Judi and Steve; we were originally booked on the whale watching excursion, but Helene had had her fill of small boats after the boating portion of the photo safari in Juneau. So, we canceled the whale watching and signed on for the pub crawl (although it seems a bit strange to call a three-pub visit a "pub crawl").
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We caught the bus for Oak Bay and the first stop in our excursion, The Snug, which is a pub tucked into the Oak Bay Beach Hotel. Our three samples were Victoria Lager, Piper's Pale Ale, and Herrman's Dark Lager. The pub also served us an appetizer plate with chicken fingers, spinach puffs, and sausage rolls. We then took a few moments to poke around the hotel proper before regrouping and getting back on our bus at 6:45. Our next stop was the Canoe Pub in downtown Victoria. How the driver actually backed the bus into the parking lot, I'll never figure out. We arrived at the pub at 7:15. There we sampled Red Canoe Lager, Beaver Brown Ale, and Honey Wheat Ale (all house brews). We left the Red Canoe at 7:55 and headed for the last stop, Spinnakers Brew Pub. We were a little disappointed with the presentation at Spinnakers, frankly. They stuck us in the pool room sitting on sacks of barley, and the appetizers consisted primarily of bread and olive oil. The beers weren't too bad, at least. We tried their Hefeweizen, a Honey Pale Ale, a Chocolate Stout, and their "20 Ale," which celebrated the brew pub's 20th anniversary. I also got a nice shot of the Inner Harbor before we left.
By the time we left Spinnakers, it was nearly 9:00. Although Helene and Judi wanted to visit downtown, it was apparent that by the time we got back to the dock and caught a ride back to downtown, we'd be cutting it awfully close in getting back to the ship on time. We're en route back to the cruise terminal now, and we've at least passed by such landmarks as the Empress Hotel and the Royal British Columbia Museum along the way. Victoria would be a city worth visiting again, if for no other reason than to combat my present impression of Victoria—unbridled condominium development everywhere.
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We got back to the terminal at 9:30. We took advantage of the nearby gift shop to do some last-chance shopping; while the gals shopped, I ended up engaged in a hockey discussion with one of the store workers. Most interesting fact I discovered during the conversation: many Victorians are Detroit Red Wings fans because the Red Wings actually began life as the WHL Victoria Cougars. Strange but true. We reboarded the ship at 10:15, and Helene and I fell asleep pretty soon after getting back to our stateroom. And so ended our last night on board.
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