Vancouver Island is quite large. At 460 km long and an average 100 km wide, it is the largest on the west coast of USA/Canada. It relies on logging, fishing, agriculture and tourism for its economy.
The climate in Victoria is mild with winter rain and summer drought, and temperatures rarely above 28 degrees Celsius. The ocean is on 3 sides of the city. Colourful flowers grow all year. The pace is slow. Whale watching is good here, since Victoria is home to 3 pods of Orca whales.
Victoria has the most restaurants per head of any city in Canada, and for the US is second only to San Francisco.
Victoria has a population of about 370,000, and 22% of those are retired. Many from the mainland come here to marry, and later in life to retire. There is a saying that Victoria has "flower beds, newly weds, and nearly deads"!
Fan Tan Alley is the narrowest street in Canada (see photo in yesterday's group of photos), down which a motorbike was ridden by Mel Gibson in the movie " Bird on a Wire".
We visited the Royal British Columbia Museum and in spite of showers (???!!) we walked. This was an excellent experience, with two floors of a natural history gallery and first people's gallery. The feature exhibition was a fascinating description and presentation of the race to be first to the South Pole.
Tomorrow we leave by ferry for Seattle in the US.
Early morning coffee before we start the day's bus tour around Victoria on Vancouver Island.
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