Ireland day 0972. Monday 27 May 2024- Vancouver Airport

Today’s summary	Drove from Victoria to Swartz Bay to catch the ferry from Vancouver Island back to the mainland at Tsawwassen. Time for a quick wander round Steveston before checking into the airport hotel then dinner with the family
Today’s weather	Mild dry and bright with occasional sun. Light south easterly wind. Appx 17c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Steveston

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

We took the next step in our wide-ranging western hemisphere journey today, with a short hop back from Vancouver Island over to the mainland. So, once we had checked out from the hotel, we retrieved the trusty Hyundai (actually it’s pretty horrible) from the underground car park and drove down the Saanich Peninsula to pick up the BC Ferries’ 1pm sailing from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen.

It was a very comfortable sail – and the weather was massively better than yesterday, so sitting out on the deck in the sunshine was actually quite pleasant. There was one moment of excitement, though, when the captain announced that an orca [killer whale] had just been spotted off the starboard bow. Naturally, everyone on board rushed over to starboard to catch a glimpse, at which point I was worried that the ship might suddenly list over and capsize. Luckily, it didn’t – and I didn’t even get to see the whale. Though I did see a lot of commotion in the water which I was told by those who had spotted the creature, was the ripples left behind as the tail submerged once again beneath the waves.

The voyage passed quickly (it’s only 95 minutes) and is quite fascinating as it threads its way through the islands. As soon as we had docked and disembarked, we decided to head off and have a look at the village of Steveston – it’s situated just to the south of the airport and on a large area of flat land, which is actually the Fraser River delta.

Steveston is quite an attractive spot – it used to be a busy fishing town complete with fish processing factory. Although there still seems to be quite a large fishing fleet berthed there, the factory has closed down now (and turned into a museum) and the high street is lined with boutiquey shops designed no doubt to tempt the dollars out of the pockets of prosperous Vancouverians.

Once we had finished sightseeing, we drove over to the Fairmont Hotel at the airport where we are staying in advance of our next flight tomorrow afternoon. We had a final (for now) dinner with the family then retired to bed to get ready for a long day of travelling tomorrow. Bonne nuit! – as they say in some parts of Canada.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Setting sail on the Spirit of British Columbia. This photo was actually taken in US territorial waters – the ferry route briefly cuts across a bit of the US as it takes the shortest route across to the mainland	Displaying its (semi-) green credentials

A throwback to happy family holidays in the ’60s and ’70s. Spotted in Steveston – there were actually quite a few vintage cars out and about in the town today	Fishing fleet rapidly becoming beached at low tide in Steventon

Wild(?) lupins decorating the meadows in Garry Point Park	Through the tinted glass of our hotel room – which looks straight out onto the runway at Vancouver airport

Now no longer operating as a fish processing plant – but rather as a museum to the Steventon fishing industry