Day 7 - Victoria

You could say that today was the most disappointing day of the cruise. As I have already mentioned, I was stuck inside for most of the day due to wind. What I didn't mention is that our ship had some engine problems and arrived in Victoria 45 minutes late. Before we reached the capital of British Columbia, we received a phone call. Our killer whale watching excursion had been cancelled due to weather and visibility concerns. Vacations shouldn't be too hectic. We turned to one of our common tactics for our more normal vacations, improvising. Rather than scrambling around trying to find the best available excursions remaining, we decided to do a bit of a walking tour. We started by the beach hoping for some interesting birds on the water. Our focus quickly shifted to some of the man-made features such as the Empress Hotel, Legislature buildings, totem poles, and statues. We also visited a couple parks. During the trip, we saw Glaucous-winged Gulls, Great Blue Herons, White-crowned Sparrows, a Starling, Crows, Mallards, and Violet-green Swallows. Unfortunately, our late time of arrival didn't give us much opportunity when it comes to lighting. Perhaps it would have been better if I had my wider lens instead. Without it, I had to resort to my #3 camera for the shots. During this time, the rest of our vacationing family members were taking a pedicab tour. We actually bumped into them and got a few shots. I rushed things a bit to ensure that I got something, so I can't be sure about the quality of the pictures. Overall the walk was enjoyable, even if the lighting took away from the picture opportunities. Perhaps the reason for this is because it was really all the walking that I got in for the day. I'm not going to complain too much about our problems. We were told that we would be refunded, and we had already seen Orcas. We also had another change in plans that saved us a little money. Perhaps we can now justify another trip this year, or maybe a better trip than originally expected for next year. We could even go on a trip to the San Juan's and use the money that we saved on the whale watching tour for a whale watching tour.