Sailing! Sailing!

Up early so that we had time for a leisurely breakfast, checkout and early arrival at our pickup point for the coach that would take us to the Tsawassen - Swartz Bay ferry, and then on to Victoria.

The pickups seemed to take forever, and we wound up at the bus terminal where they divided passengers according to destinations, and routes.  Some, we discovered, were going to stop at Butchart Gardens and then continue on to Victoria.  We weren't aware of that option and were headed straight to Victoria.

At the ferry terminal I was surprised by the fact that the coach went on the ferry.  I'd thought that perhaps they drove to the ferry, disembarked the passengers, and that we'd be met by a different coach once we docked on the other side.  Not so, the coach drove onto the ferry (first vehicle on Deck 2) and we left the coach and made our way up to Deck 6 for the crossing.

It's a pretty crossing.  It's about 90 minutes long and you travel among the islands.  We could also watch our sister ferry behind us.

 Those islands must have been too tempting because suddenly there was a flurry of activity, life rings were thrown into the water, and the captain summoned the crew to begin proceedings for "Man Overboard."  He further advised, "This is NOT a drill and we will be using lifeboat X."

Crew members hit the deck running.  It was quite apparent that they knew exactly what they were to do.  Shortly thereafter, he further announced that the Queen of the Cumberland - the ferry in the photo above - had also observed the man going into the water and were responding.  We were standing by to offer assistance if required.  

While we waited one of the other passengers was approached by a member of the crew to confirm that he had been the one to observe the man jumping into the water and sound the alarm.  He was quite certain that the man had jumped, not fallen.  

Then we were advised that the man had been rescued, was cold and wet, but none the worse for his dip, and would be "answering questions" when the ferry docked.  Then all passengers who had been involved in the incident were asked to report to a specific member of the crew so that all of the details could be recorded.  We later learned that it made the papers in Victoria, but the only account I could find was here.

I asked my friend if she appreciated all that we'd laid on for her, and she assured me she had.

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully and soon we were back on the coach and headed to Victoria.

When we left the coach at the bus depot there was a representative from the Tourism Bureau greeting new arrivals, offering maps of Victoria, and asking if we needed assistance.  Nice touch!

We mentioned needing a taxi and then named the street we were travelling to.  She looked at us as though we'd surprised her, then added quetly, "I guess, if you have luggage ..."  and directed us to the spot where taxis normally waited.  All were gone at that moment, but she assured us that there would be more there very soon.

Taking her very quiet comment into account with what we'd been told about the hotel's location, we decided that we'd walk there instead of waiting. ... Could someone please explain why it is that if you are headed south you do not expect it to be all uphill???

It was not an arduous walk, if you weren't rolling a suitcase, and knew for certain where exactly you're headed, but we were and we didn't, so it seemed like quite a trek!  But when we turned the corner and were walking along with waters of the Strait beside us and the mountains off in the distance, we were encouraged and soon arrived at our home for the next four nights.

 

We were actually in the green bulding behind ... it's called The Duplex, and we had the entire upper floor to ourselves.