Day Ten

Slow start today.

Alex's place.

Woke up with an awful headache, but blessedly, in a bed. Got some writing done for the blog that was long overdue. Wound up going for a late brunch with Kyle (Alex's roommate) and some of his friends. It was a nice way to slowly wind the day up, as finally my headache started to recede. James Hogg had been in touch, and we'd found out he'd be on the island, on base at Esquimalt today - and that he had the weekend off. We packed our stuff, and rallied forth.

Kirstie came by to depart with us, and after the tail end of rush hour had settled, we hopped on the ferry across to Victoria.

It was a pretty short crossing, but made a little more exciting by the fact that we were all ushered inside due to intense lightning. Ever experience a sunshower? It was along the lines of that, bright, sunny, and beautiful on one side of the boat, and dark, rainbowed, and lightning on the other. Bizarre, contradictory weather, that i've since learned is highly uncommon to Vancouver island. 

We had a number of plans for what we'd fill the weekend with, but first we had to collect James from Esquimalt base, and get some sleep to store up the energy we'd need for the next few days. We were waved through in true Canadian fashion...the dialogue went like this. 

"Hey, I need to pick up my brother from his barracks."

"This is a restricted area. Is he expecting you?"

"Yes."

"Oh! Well, come on in then!"

No security check, no gate, no nothing. We were able to pick up James without incident. He's off on a sailing for the next three weeks doing training with the reserves. He'll be aboard this ship, the Edmonton (the further of the two).

'

Fortunately, he has the weekend off, and not having been to Victoria since he was a young kid, he's sort of in the same boat as me...ready to explore. I've heard a lot about this island, and i'm glad I had an excuse to come have a look. We decided to camp the first night in Golden Stream Provincial Park, and we had the whole site to ourselves.

Very satisfying. 

The four of us chatted a bit, walked around a little, and then all piled into Kyle's borrowed 4 person tent to rest up for adventures all weekend. I have many more musings about the island, the ferry, and the folks i'm with, but the adventures begin very early tomorrow...we have some good things planned...stay tuned for impressions of Victoria, Vancouver island, and tales of adventure! 

-Jeff