8/4 Victoria

This morning Erin fixed a frittata, a one frying pan egg dish with some sausage and left over potatoes that does some baking in the oven.  It was enough for four, so she took some over to the Bar-T-Na for Trav and Barb.  That got us all off to a good start.

 

Our rafting neighbors John and Vicky left this morning, weaving down the fairway and around the harbor ferry waltz, which was going on again.  They were hoping for a westerly wind (they're in a sailboat) to carry them over to Port Townsend, where they'll clear customs and spend the night.  Tomorrow they plan on sailing down to Seattle to stay at the Bell St. Harbor marina.  We enjoyed visiting with them and exchanged addresses – hope to see them again.

 

The noontime event of the day, following some words from the Prime Minister of B.C. over at the Parliament Building, was a performance by the Snowbirds, the Canadian military precision flying team.  They first appeared by coming over the top of the Empress Hotel and passing directly over us.  They are a team of 9 jets, small trainers that appear to seat two, side by side.  They performed for 15 minutes or so.  Unlike the Blue Angels, they don't do head-on maneuvers – mostly formation flying in loops, although their grand finale was a starburst, where they spread out in all directions.  They reconvened out of sight and swooped low from behind the Empress and directly overhead again as they headed off to the west.

 

Following the air show, Erin and Barb went to the Royal BC Museum, which was open to all "by donation" today.  They spent an hour or two viewing various exhibits while Trav and I minded the store.  I did some pre-travel maintenance, donning the knee pads for a trip to the engine room, where I checked the oil, gear box lube and transmission fluid in both engines.  We apparently haven't been putting in enough engine hours, as nothing needed to be topped up.  I did add some coolant to the port engine, though.

 

A sound stage had been set up in front of the Parliament Building, and throughout the afternoon and into the night various bands and singers have been performing.  Many were enjoyable, and some were not.  Unfortunately, the volume level seemed to be inversely proportioned to the talent.  The stage is probably a quarter mile away from the boat, and during some performances we couldn't hear each other talking here at the boat without shouting.

 

Dinner was leftovers, followed by an evening of dominoes and conversation with Trav and Barb.  This is our last night in Victoria – tomorrow we'll head out, most likely going back to Cadboro Bay where we hid out in the storm.  It was nice there, and this time we'll see if we can get a few Dungeness crabs.