Floating Hotel

Victoria is now well into cruise ship season and between now and October we will see hundreds of these huge floating luxury hotels. The one pictured above is the Radiance of the Seas while it was making the turn to enter the Ogden Point Cruise Ship Terminal. The rocky point in the foreground on the right is Work Point, which marks the western side of the entrance to the Inner Harbour. Ogden Point is just off camera to the left. Click the name of the ship above for a virtual tour of its interior. These ships are quite extraordinary and are much removed from the ocean liner I boarded 50 years ago the first time I crossed the Atlantic. In those days an ocean liner was a means of transportation. Now it is a way of life. Some of these ships have been built as condominiums where the residents live aboard more or less permanently and decide collectively where to cruise, etc.

Lately....

The weather has been clear and cold and although some of the spring flowers are appearing, spring is only just beginning. This photo, taken yesterday, gives a better idea of how far spring has progressed. Most of the trees are just showing a blush of green though some kinds have leafed out considerably. This is the view of the western side of the entrance to the Inner Harbour as seen from the Westsong Walkway. In the distance, center, is Work Point With the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula dimly visible in the distance.

Work Point

Here's a view of Victoria's Inner Harbour that is probably not too familiar even to the city's residents. It was taken from the western point that marks the entrance to the harbour, called Work Point. It is on the opposite side of the harbour from where I often photograph the city. On the left side of the photo, the large green patch that can be seen marks one side of Lyme Bay, my usual haunt, where Spinnakers is located. Off camera to the extreme right is Ogden Point, which marks the eastern side of the entrance to the harbour and is where the cruise ships dock.