PART 10, Wednesday, Sept. 11, Arriving in Vancouver, British Columbia, the cruise comes to an end!
Our bags were packed early and we were ready but sad the cruise was over. We were going to miss the Orion, it was our home on the sea for the last thirteen days. I will comment about the cruise at the end of this page just before we fly home. But for now, we were scheduled to disembark the ship at 8:30 am.so we had time for breakfast. Our bags would be transferred to the transportation depot on the dock, all we had to do was match the tags and head to the bus that would (eventually) take us to our hotel.
Note: This whole transfer from the ship to the transportation depot to the bus was a screwed-up nightmare!!!! I won't comment here, enough said!
Arriving in Vancouver-
Looking down from the upper deck of the Orion-
When we (finally) got on our bus we were going on a bus tour of Vancouver, before we checked into our hotel later in the day after 4:00 pm. Honestly, Jen and I are not big fans of cities (enough said). Vancouver is a humongous city full of culture and architecture, Its a beautiful city, just not for us.
One of the stops on this city tour was Stanley Park. They only stopped for a short fifteen minute break.....Jen and I could have spent all day here birdwatching! It is a beautiful sea side park!
The only birds I saw in the harbor were a few Red-necked Grebes. I had not unpacked my camera, it was still in my camera bag on the bus. All that I had was my iphone camera.
When I saw the Western Grebe farther out in the harbor, I ran back to the bus and grabbed my small Canon SX 70 powershot camera. I was able to take a few images of the Grebe before it was time to get back on the bus and tour the city.
We spent ALL DAY in a bus driving around the city in very uncomfortable seats with absolutely zero leg room! Again, I won't comment on this tour....all I can say was the only birds I saw were Pigeons!
At 4;30 they dumped us off at the Hotel. Our bags (and we had a bunch of them) were supposed to have been delivered to the Hotel earlier in the day. They would be waiting for us in our rooms! Instead, when we reached the Hotel two blocks away form the back entrance, they suddenly opened the luggage storage doors on the bus and dumped all of our bags on the sidewalk!! Thank you and have a nice day!! Again.....I will not comment!!
Months earlier when we booked the cruise and the tours, we had arranged a trip to Vancouver Island and Victoria to visit the famous Butchart Gardens. The idea was (or so we thought) would be to take a short tour on the way to the ferry, and then take the ferry across to Vancouver Island. The destination would be the Gardens. We had planned to spend the day at the Gardens and then head back to Vancouver on the ferry and then to the Hotel. We would check out in the morning to take our flights home! The tour bus would pick us up at 5:30 am at the back entrance of the Hotel. Again, we were packed into this bus with really uncomfortable seats and absolutely no leg room between the seats!
Again, I won't comment on the tour, but somehow the bus driver screwed up and missed our reservation time on the ferry ride. So....we had tow hours extra to waste driving around the same areas we saw the day before! Again, no comment!
Being three ours later, we (finally) made the ferry.
Finally we were on the ferry hours later than was planned. Maybe I can see some birds on the crossing! In the harbor, hundreds of Pelagic Cormorants-
Finally we were on the ferry hours later than was planned. Maybe I can see some birds on the crossing! In the harbor, hundreds of Pelagic Cormorants-
The number of Gulls was amazing.....everywhere you looked-
California Gulls-
Short-billed Mew Gulls
Herring Gulls
And of course, Pelagic Cormorants
Just about every stretch of shoreline had groups of Gulls spread out along the ferry route-
Stunning adult Short-billed Mew Gull-
Along the shoreline of one of the Islands, there were many flocks of Bonaparte's Gulls numbering in the hundreds-
Continuing Gulls along the shorelines-
One area along the route the Harbor Seals favored.
Have to have at least one lighthouse!
After a one and a half hour ferry ride, the ferry pulled into the port near Victoria. The bus would have to travel through Victoria to get to the Gardens....so why not tour Victoria as well?? Again........,no comment!! We finally arrived at Butchart Gardens at 2:00 pm and were instructed by the bus driver that we had one and a half hours to tour the sixty acres of the Gardens, be back on the bus at 3:30 so he could make the ferry reservations. WHAT??? we waited all year to see these magnificent Gardens for just an hour and a half!! Not even enough time for a coffee and a bagel for the lunch that we never stopped for! NO COMMENT!! The Gardens were magnificent.....too bad we only got to see one small area of them!
We were all back on the bus when the bus pulled away. we were then told that we would be dropped off in Victoria for two hours to shop and "enjoy the city" so he could take the Electric Bus to be recharged! No Comment!!!
Jen and I had to check in for our boarding passes for the next mornings flight home. We couldn't find one store or hotel that would allow us to use their WIFI so we could do this. Finally the manager of a Starbucks accommodated us. So we sat in Starbucks for two hours waiting for our bus to return to (hopefully) bring us back to our Hotel. When the bus returned and we all boarded, we were told that we wouldn't be back to our Hotel until 10:30 pm that night!! We still had t make the ferry and then deal with all the traffic in Vancouver! Again, no comment!!
The only bird I saw in the gardens...... an Anna's Hummingbird!
Finally, back on the ferry with only an hour of daylight left! Back up on the upper sun deck. While we were still loading and before the ferry left the dock, I had a really good Gull and Pelagic Cormorant show below me.
I took many images of the Pelagic Cormorants....they offered me a great opportunity to observe them and photograph them-
Glaucous-winged Gull-
1st cycle Glaucous-winged Gull-
another gorgeous 1st cycle Glaucous-winged Gull-
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and another stunning adult Glaucous-winged Gull
adult Short-billed Mew Gull
On the way back on the ferry ion the last minutes of daylight, these islands were covered by Cormorants-
These Islands had both Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorants-
And even a single Black Oystercatcher!
I only saw a few Sea Otters on the ferry ride-
And this unfortunate occurrence being the last animal and bird I photographed .....a Harbor Seal attacking a Pelagic Cormorant!
The last light of the day saved for the Lighthouse!
The moon was a pleasant site to see!
A fitting end to this cruise and this awful day!
To conclude...... the Alaskan Cruise on the Viking Orion was more than special to Jen and I . We had planned this for years and it kept getting put off and postponed. The cruise was wonderful, the ship was elegant and clean. Our Suite was large and cozy, the staff was amazing, the food was exceptional, the Explorer's Lounge was fabulous! Our time in Alaska was better than expected, it was amazing! All around I highly recommend it! If you are a birder/birdwatcher, this cruise and all the tours are for you! I saw so many birds and so many desirable species that I wanted as well as Whales, Seals and Otters, even being an off-time of year!
If Jen and I were to do it again, we would absolutely take the two days in Vancouver and put them on the beginning of the trip in Seward.
Addendum.......Jen and I really wanted to experience Aurora Borealis Northern Lights but with all the cloud cover and rainy nights in the northern part of our cruise, we never saw them....very disappointing. However, two weeks after the cruise and we were home, the eastern U S experienced a solar event....we saw the Northern Lights from our back deck!
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