Super 8 guy: Do you need a map or anything?
Me: No, we're just going to the ferry and it's right down the street, yeah?
S8G: Yeah, you need a map.
Me: Um... OK....
S8G: So we're right here and you go down this street to the ferry. It's a straight-shot.
Me (thinking): Um and why did I need a map?
We had a short night's sleep and got up early for the ferry. Luckily, we were sustained by a delicious waffle. We got in line for the ferry around 7:30 and were ushered into a long line, eventually pulling onto the ferry itself. We were banned from the car deck for the ride so headed up to the top and took some pictures before scurrying inside to avoid the windchill. It was a gorgeous ride and not a ton of clouds- we even got a little bit of a sunrise though the clouds. Once we arrived in Victoria, we immediately left the city, driving north on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Our first stop was Sooke where we paid a quick visit to the Visitor's Centre and got some information. Also we looked at a small museum which had the obligatory creepy mannequins, old pictures, and "what this room looked like in 1834" replicas. We went up first to the Sooke Potholes Park where we saw some gorgeous views of a waterfall and of course the wildlife that the area had to offer (in the form of a large slug). There were different outlooks that we could stand and take pictures and also a large old strcture that kind of looked like a mill but it was hard to tell and there was NO signage. Next we headed down through the town (with all of two traffic lights) to Whiffen Spit. This was a long, maybe half a mile long spit that went out through the harbour. There were pebbles in the beaches, large rock formations, lots of flora (but no fauna other than the dogs people were walking- and some deer back at the car park) and a lighthouse out at the very end. There were gorgeous views of Sooke as well as mainland Canada and Washington in the distance.
From Sooke we drove the long road along the coast to Port Renfrew where we took a short hike down to Botany Bay which was this awesome little bay with incredibly awesome rock formations and a little peninsula with its own little forest on it. It was like trucking around on the tidepools just with different rocks and much more seaweed. It was a quaint little area and I would have liked to spend more time exploring but we still had a few more places to hit up before the day was done.
From Port Renfrew, we crossed over at least fifteen one-way-only bridges, observed some incredible views of forest and trees but also a lot of deforestation as we made our way through the winding roads to Lake Cowichan. The lake was a lot different than we expected and so we only took a short minute or so to take some pictures, throw rocks into the lake and wonder about the jobs on the inhabitants of Lake Cowichan before getting back into the Saturn and driving off to Duncan.
Duncan is known for its totem poles so after getting lost a few times, we eventually found our way downtown and wandered around. We went into this gorgeous bookstore and ended up chatting with the owner, Jeff, for a good fifteen minutes or so. He told us about his plans to sell and store some of his merchandise and open a wine bar in the bookstore, as well as do some construction on the square next to his shop for concerts, a deck, a better seating area, etc. He was the nicest man ever and had the greatest Canadian accent ever, eh! Duncan wasn't what we expected but it was a lovely little town.
The rest of the day consisted of driving back into Victoria (after some Starrybux, of course), checking into our hostel in downtown Vic, showing Kirbi the ropes of hostel life (claiming your bed, taking your key everywhere, enduring loud foreign roommates, etc.), a yummy dinner at Nandos and a jaunt around Victoria at night. All in all a successful first day!
MAN! You pack a lot into a day!!!
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