We had from 9:00am-6:00pm to explore Victoria, British Columbia once we got off the boat. We were up early waiting at the gangplank at 8:30am. We rented a car from Budget for $35 which is cheaper than Uber, cabs, buses, and shuttles to the Butchart Gardens. They picked us up from the port and helped us with directions. We like being on our own time schedule.

Parliament

Butchar Gardens. The pictures speak for themselves. Mackenzie took most of these pictures. She is really enjoying photography.

Royal BC Museum was on my travel museum pass for free so we decided to swing by. We only had 2 hours here but it’s such a vast museum we could have spent two days! If you have a chance, you should visit it!

The Craigdarroch Castle was built by coal baron Robert Dunsmuir during the reign of Queen Victoria. Now a National Historic Site, Craigdarroch Castle shows us the rich life of the 1890s.

Tracey Arm Fjord. The captain drove us into the fjord to see the Sawyer Glacier. I wasn’t sure how this was going to work, but when we made reservations, the agent told us about the back of the boat balcony room was a great spot to see the glacier. The captain came over the intercom the night before to say he was going to drive us through the fjord from 5:00am – 11:00am. He said he wasn’t sure how close he could get us because the icebergs. I was so excited that I woke up at 5:00 and sat outside watching us cruise through the Fjord. It was hazy but still beautiful. When we got as close as he could get us, he slowing spun us around several times. It was raining so we were so happy to have the covered private balcony to watch it from instead of on the deck with everyone else in the rain. Abby saw an iceberg calving while I was busy setting up tripod for a family photo. Ice Calving reminds us of playing the arcade game where you put the coin in, it drops to a layer of coins in which you hope it lands in just the right spot to push the coins off the ledge so you can get a ton of tickets. I waited and watched for any evidence of an iceberg falling off and just when I look away it happens. Just like walking away from that coin machine, the next person drops their coin in, it pushes 10 coins off the ledge, and a ton of tickets come spewing out.

Seeing the bright blue icebergs in the water was surreal.