Vancouver Island Part 4

Don and I took a road trip to Victoria.  We traveled the Pacific Marine Circle Route which is basically a circle from Duncan past Cowichan Lake to Port Renfrew on the west coast of the island and then down along the ocean through Sooke and then Victoria.
  pacific marine circle drive
The road from Cowichan Lake to Port Renfrew is a rustic windy, twisty road with a lot of bridges that are one way only. We did not see many vehicles on the road but we did see a number of logging trucks.  We got out in Cowichan Lake to stretch our legs and take a look around.
 

We drove through the town of Port Renfrew but did not really stop to look at anything. It is basically a small fishing town and I assume people that work in the logging industry.

 We enjoyed our drive along the ocean and stopped at Botanical Loop Trail along the Straight of Juan de Fuca. This was one I had read about and was excited to explore and it did not disappoint.  It was about a 4 km hike and was amazing.

 There were natural bonsai trees in one area, and Don wanted to be in a picture without his hands in his pockets for once

The path to the Botanical Beach was made by First Nations youth and was very innovative in spots.

 We were so lucky that the tide was low so we could walk out on the rocks and look into the pools hollowed out by the water

 There were sea anemones, crabs, little fish, sea plants and all kinds of shell fish in these little pools.

I have never in my life seen a slug as big as this, about 3 loonies long when not even stretched out.  ewwwwww

 We stopped at a couple more beach or park areas along the coast and then stopped at the Sooke Potholes which is where the river makes the holes in the rocks.  I also spotted this arbutum tree.  Arbutus is found on sites that lack moisture, such as those with rocky or rapidly drained soils. Because it does not like shade, it generally occurs in clearings or on open rocky bluffs with other species such as Garry oak or Douglas-fir, oceanspray, Oregon-grape, baldhip rose, and several herbs and grasses.
The flowers have a strong honey smell and are very attractive to bees. Fruit-eating birds such as waxwings and robins frequently eat the berries. Arbutus bark is very rich in a substance used for tanning hides. The wood is heavy and hard, tends to be brittle, and cracks when drying. It is used only for woodworking in British Columbia. Arbutus is the only native broadleaf evergreen tree in Canada. Another common name is madrone, a Spanish word for the strawberry tree, of which arbutus is a close relative.   It is a fascinating tree and I love the color and smoothness of its bark.

 We had an exhausting full day in Victoria.   We went to the museum which was fantastic. It had a natural history section which told all about the animals and birds.  It had a lot of information on global warming etc and I really found it interesting.  It then had a first nation history with lots of interactive displays, there are an incredible number of tribes and native languages in BC.  Then there was a logging, and fishing and settlers area.  I could have spent more time here but we had a lot of ground to cover in just one day.

 We did a quick tour of the legislature building as well as the Empress Motel grounds.

I kept seeing these beautiful little English daisies everywhere.  They had a huge sign cut out of the grass at the harbour that read Welcome to Victoria and these little flowers were planted in the letters.  That is going to look amazing in a month or so.

We took a sea taxi over to Fisherman's wharf.  We watched these silly harbour seals for a long time. Then we sat and shared a bowl of salmon chowder.  It was amazing, loaded with salmon, smoked salmon and sprinkled with candied salmon on top.

These little house boats were along the dock, some were businesses and most were residences.

                                                   This heron let me get really close.

 This is an oyster catcher which I was thrilled to see as I have never seen one -  not many oysters in Saskatchewan

The flowering trees on the island are absolutely amazing.  Everything flowers it seems and I have never seen such color in spring.  We had a very busy day and we were exhausted but happy that we got to see so much.