#bcferries

all aboard

On July 25, I went to Victoria, BC. The following is a series of photos and our day’s itinerary.

At 06:00, we woke up and grabbed our bags to go to the ferry terminal. 

At appx. 07:10, we arrived at Bridgeport Bus Terminal to catch the 620 Tsawwassen Ferry Express. 

No. We do not drive. You can experience more if you walk around and take in the scenery.

We sat at the very top, at the very front of the double decker bus for about 30-45 minutes. Along the way, we saw this sign. 

Sometimes I ask who in their right mind decided it was a good idea to transport honey bees onto a ferry.

At around 08:30, we arrived at the terminal and got in the waiting room in Berth 5. While waiting, we saw the Coastal Inspiration loading passengers for Duke Point, Nanaimo. 

The Coastal Inspiration is a Super C-Class (Coastal) ferry. She has 2 sister ships, the Renaissance, which runs from Departure Bay (Nanaimo) to Horseshoe Bay (West Vancouver), and the Celebration, which runs from Tsawwassen (Vancouver) to Swartz Bay (Victoria/Sidney).

The Super C-Class succeeded the C-Class (Cowichan Class) in 2007. 

The Super C-Class has the biggest double sided ferries in the world. They were built 2007-2008 in Flensburg, Germany by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft.

By the time you’re done reading that little informational part, the ferry has arrived.

Our ferry was called the Queen of New Westminster. It is a classless ferry, as all of it’s other sister ships (Nanaimo, Burnaby, Victoria, Esquimalt, Saanich)  have either been retired or scrapped. It used to belong in the V-Class (Victoria Class). 

This is a photo I took of it on the way back from Victoria, as I have no photos of it from when we boarded.

We got inside and grabbed some drinks and some hash browns from the cafeteria, then moved on to the passenger lounge.

I also saw a nice picture of Queen Elizabeth II. 

The boat ride was about 1 hour 30 mins.

When we docked at Swartz Bay, we got off and went to wait for the 72 to Downtown Victoria.

The bus prices and the system are much more different than the ones in Vancouver. Unlike Vancouver, Victoria does not have a train system, or ticket machines. You have to buy your pass from the driver. Here’s a list of fares.

We got on the double deck bus (Which surprisingly is more common to see around Greater Victoria than in Vancouver) and it took off through Sidney, then to Victoria. 

The terminal stop was right in front of the Parliament of British Columbia. 

There was a huge genie lift in front of the building, so that wasn’t very fun.

There was also a WWI memorial in the field, and some guy playing bagpipes.

In the background, you can also see the Empress Hotel. Sadly, the stores inside were closed. 

There was also this memorial which commemorated the implement of the BC border with Imperial Russia. You’re lucky if you can read all the languages on the plaque.

After eating lunch in front of the Parliament, we went and walked to Chinatown, through the old town of Victoria. On the way, I saw not one, but TWO military replica/trade shops! One store had the uniform of a German Luftwaffe Field Marshal. 

We checked out the Fan Tan Alley, and my mom bought a scarf from a store. 

There was also a bubble tea place that had a pop art photo of Mao Zedong. I don’t know if it’s an art statement or a political statement. Maybe they support communism? Maybe it’s a secret KGB lair? Who knows....

This is the Chinese Public School. It was inaugurated in 1908, after an overflow of Chinese children at Lequn Free School due to a new law, where chinese students could not attend English-Language schools, as they could not speak English.

After walking around, buying a whole bag of fortune cookies for like 3 bucks, and debating on where we’re going to go next, we decided it was time to go visit UVic. We went and got on the 4 bus. I quickly snapped a picture of Victoria’s Town Hall before the bus arrived.

The following is a map of UVic campus and a few photos.

Above is my brother standing in front of the longhouse on campus.

After our little visit to UVic, we decided it was time to head back. So we did.

We got back to downtown, and headed to the bus stop. We got back on the 72 to Swartz Bay. I fell asleep on the way, so I don’t have any photos of the bus ride back.

We waited about an hour for our ferry to arrive at port. I don’t have an image, but there was a poster of a Sherman tank in the terminal. Interesting.

Our ferry this time was the Vancouver Island.

The Spirit of Vancouver Island is a, S-Class (Spirit) ferry. It was built in 1994. It has one other sister ship, the British Columbia, which also runs Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay. They were both sent to Poland in 2017 to accommodate the use of natural gas over just diesel. 

On the ride, we went and ate (again) at the cafeteria. This time, we had burgers and fries. We walked around and sat down in random places in the ship.

Some other ships we spotted are below and labled.

Spirit of BC, S-Class.

Salish Raven, Salish Class. (Tsawwassen to Gulf Islands)

Salish Eagle, Salish Class. (Tsawwassen to Gulf Islands)

It was maybe... 22:00? When we got to the port? The sun was already about to set. 

To end this report, here’s some pictures of the sunset.

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