A Vancouver Island Road Trip – Day 1
Fear aside, we headed to Vancouver Island in British Columbia (BC) for the first part of our road trip (and for me to live out my dream of seeing Orcas).
It’s been eight months since I last travelled. The thing that I loved so much, the thing that excited me became dangerous. We are in a global pandemic, but the lack of natural light, being stuck in a condo in Toronto, is getting to me.
When my boyfriend, Callum, proposed we head out West to visit with his brother, I was a bit skeptical. The government keeps was telling us we should stay home, but now we are allowed to travel within our own country. We have N95 masks so we can minimize the risk. I’m just afraid.
After a bit of convincing, I agreed that there were ways to travel safely. We could do outdoor activities. We could camp. There will be some risk seeing others, but if we do it outside or wear masks if we are indoors, then the risk will be minimized. This is all a balance of mental and physical health at this point anyways.
Getting from Toronto to Victoria
We woke up early and flew directly to Victoria, BC from Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ). The airport was busier than expected, and there were naturally some gross people who removed their masks to cough, but we moved away from them.
When boarding the plane, we had to remove our masks so they could check our ID. I was uncomfortable, but I understand why they need to do this.
We had a whole exit row to ourselves. This was the best. So much space and we were away from others (except one woman who as across the aisle from me).
The entire flight was relatively uneventful, and we were able to pick up our baggage no problem. I was nervous we would lose our luggage because this has been an issue with airlines lately, but we needed to pack a lot for our three week hiking trip.
After grabbing our luggage, we picked up our rental car in the airport itself.
Fisherman’s Wharf
Since the main thing I wanted to do in Victoria, was whale watching, we structured our day around Fisherman’s Wharf.
I’ve been interested in visiting Fisherman’s Wharf generally, and this is where you meet for the whale watching anyways.
We parked the car in a lot nearby, and walked down to the wharf. Our tour is at 2:00 PM, and we were hungry so we got lunch. There are stalls set up on the wharf so I grabbed a fried chicken burger and some fries. Callum got his food from a different stall.
We sat at a picnic table, and the biggest Seagull I have ever seen stood near us (definitely wanted our food). I had no idea they could be so big.
After lunch we headed to the meeting location for our whale watching tour with Eagle Wing Tours.
Whale Watching with Eagle Wing in Victoria
This was such an amazing experience. The staff were very knowledgeable and entertaining.
At the beginning of the safari we saw some sea lions and our guide said they are considered “orca hors d’ouevers” because they never move and orcas just eat them easily.
The boats themselves had less people due to the pandemic, but I felt very safe and like we had space to move around. I have been on other whale watching tours pre-pandemic and anytime there was a whale, people would rush to that location and it would be hard to get photos of it. Plus, the animals move so quickly, if you don’t have a clear shot, you will probably miss it. But, because there were less people, I didn’t run into any of these problems.
One of my favourite orcas was named Gailiano. He was in a transient pod, and we saw this pod circling and hunting their prey. They told us they could tell which orca was Galiano because he had a little piece out of his dorsal fin (the fin on the back of porpoises that you can see come out of the water). Orcas are actually porpoises (like dolphins).
On the tour we could also see Mount Baker, and a wide variety of animals (including other porpoises that orcas actually eat). I felt that Eagle Wing were respecting the distance and the safety of the animals.
Note: It’s amazing seeing wildlife, but unfortunately not all operators in the world respect animals. Some will just do what they think will be a good experience for tourists, but disregard the benefit of the animals. It’s important to do your own research before booking a wildlife tour to ensure the wellbeing of the animals.
Overall, I would highly recommend the tour through Eagle Wing for anyone who has a day in Victoria and would like to view orcas in a respectful manner.
Exploring Victoria, BC
After the whale watching tour, we walked to Parliament and checked out the building from the outside.
The Parliament in Victoria is a beautiful neo-baroque building completed in 1897. This is where the British Columbia Provincial government operates from.
We just viewed the building from the outside, but you can normally take free tours. I’ve done this in Ottawa for the parliament buildings and its really cool, so if you have the time, I’m sure it is worth checking out, plus its free and learning new things are fun.
Dinner at Nourish
For dinner, we headed to a place my friend from Victoria recommended called Nourish. It was amazing. I had risotto and turmeric fries.
I would definitely go back should I ever be back in Victoria.
Determining Where to Sleep for the Night
For our first night, we did not have an accommodation booked. We figured we would start driving to Tofino and then book something or pull into somewhere along the way.
After our little pit stop, I looked for somewhere for us to stay for the night on booking.com. We ended up staying at Best Western Cowichan Valley.
I had been watching Hey Nadine’s series where she partnered with Best Western on YouTube so I figured it would be a good stay for a night.
The bed was comfortable. The room was clean, and they gave us a little to-go bag of food in the morning. More on this in the next post.
Prepare for your Trip
Learn
A few books, documentaries, and podcasts I recommend consuming before or during your trip to Canada 🇨🇦. Evolving Pop Culture Guide to Canada.
