Today was sunny with an almost clear blue sky. On the way out of the hotel we stopped at the Festival of Trees. There were more than 20 trees all decorated by different organisations. They looked great! Some of the trees were in the conservatory & it was very warm in there. But, when we went outside it was cold, particularly in the shade.
We went across to the Visitor Centre & booked tickets on a bus to take us to Butchart Gardens tomorrow night for the Christmas lights.
After that we decided to walk around to Fishermans Wharf. The brochure said that seals hang around there & there are lots of fresh seafood places. It was a nice walk around the waterfront & we saw lots of seaplanes taking off & landing. When we got to Fishermans Wharf we found most of the shops were closed for the season & there were no seals.
Earlier we had checked in at the whale watching place (Prince of Whales) to see if the tour would be going ahead. We got there just as the 5th & 6th people booked. That meant we were going. Yay!!!!
After having something to eat we went to the dock. There ended up being 8 of us on board. The boat was a bright yellow, open air Zodiac. No double decker whale watching boats like in Sydney. We had to put on red flotation suits which made it very difficult to move around. We each had 4 layers & our coats underneath & looked like Michelin men. The wind was pretty cold & once the boat really got going we were glad of all the layers & the suits.
We were on the water quite a while & hadn't seen any whales. The driver told us we had crossed into US waters to see if we could find some but to no avail. We were back in Canadian waters when the driver finally spotted some killers whales ahead. They were transient whales, meaning they weren't part of the pod of 80 whales that lived around Victoria. There were about 8 in the group. They are very graceful creatures, diving through the waves just like dolphins. They are also very hard to photograph because they were moving so quickly. They were just beautiful.
No long after the driver saw the killer whales, he also spotted a humpback whale about a mile away. He said we would stay with the killers for now as humpbacks don't move around as much. We also saw the humpback n the distance - the water spouting & a long dark shape on the surface.
Our driver also works for Canadian Fisheries doing work with the whales. He was very knowledgable bout them calling out the different kinds. He was also very excited to have found the whales as sightings decrease in December. He was even more excited that there was a humpback around too.
He kept moving the boat to keep up with the whales & give us all a good look. He was in radio contact with a whale watching boat that had come from the US & as they were coming towards our pod, they came across another group about 2 miles away. After a while we headed over to see those whales. There were about 12 in this group but I didn't see that many. After following them for a while the driver said we would go & find the humpback. But, he had disappeared. He may have been spooked by the killer whales who could have attacked & killed him. We hung around for a while but there was no sign so we headed to an area to see seal & sea lions. He decided to detour & eventually spotted the humpback. It was pretty close to the boat at one stage. He was diving & blowing & raised his tail a couple of times which looked very cool but I missed with my camera. We stayed with the humpback for 20-30mins before heading back to Victoria via the seals. On the way back the driver put his foot down & we were flying over the waves. It felt like a Disney ride.
It was an awesome experience seeing the whales so close. We were out for nearly 3.5hrs & the sun was nearly set by the time we got back at 4.30pm. We hadn't felt cold out there at all but when we came back into the harbour, I took off the goggles & unclipped the hood of my coat. That was when I could feel it was cold. It was nice to get back into the change room to find hot chocolates waiting for us as we took the suits off.
Rob & I headed back into the hotel to change & then went up to an Irish pub we had seen last night. We had a drink at the bar while watching American football before heading off to dinner. We found a seafood/grill restaurant on the waterfront which looked nice. We had a table right next to to the fireplace & they were playing Christmas carols. A combo plate of lobster tail & steak cost $25. I also had freshly shucked oysters for $1 each. Yum! It was absolutely delicious.
The waitress told us snow is forecast for Thursday.