August 26, 2016

August 26, 2016

This is another sea day.  Instead of relaxing, we spent the day partaking in ship events.  We listened to a talk on the early exploration of Alaska, watched a magician perform sleight of hand, and joined a trivia contest (which we won!).  In between we walked the deck for exercise.  In the afternoon we went to the Crow’s Nest bar for Happy Hour where we cruised right across a dozen pods of Humpback whales!  We finally found the mother lode!  Still, from the top deck of a cruise ship we are still far away. 

At dinner time, we pulled into the town of Victoria, capitol of British Columbia.  We are only going to be here a few hours.  I thought it was a crazy stop until I realized that stopping in a foreign port (Canada counts) means the ship can be foreign-flagged and employ low-cost Philippino labor.

We took a short taxi into downtown and walked past the government building and into the Empress Hotel.  This 100 year old structure is a designated National Historic Site of Canada because it has played host to countless kings and queens and movie stars.  Downtown Victoria is a hubbub of activity and beautiful set against a tiny harbor.  We have a leisurely walk back to the ship.  The weather is delightful and Aimee and I are thinking this walkable city would be a great place to live in the summer.