That afternoon we went on a whale watching boat ride, though we didn't see any whales. We did see a cloud of birds feeding, and when we got closer saw that it was some seals pushing a school of fish towards the surface while they hunted. We saw some porpoises, as well, and a bald eagle catch and eat a fish. It was a nice boat ride, went along San Juan island and had a great view of the Olympic Mountains and Mount Baker. It was a zodiac, and while it went very fast, which was cool, there was no bumping around since the water was so calm. Got a sunburnt nose.
After dinner that night we walked out to Craigdarroch Castle, which is really just an oldish house. And as Alan pointed out, it doesn't look old, so much as it looks like it's trying to look old. Bit of a long walk considering the view in the end...
We had yet another fantastic breakfast, at Swan's Brew Pub again. No beer in the morning though. It did come with 2 wee Easter Eggs at the end though. Then we sort of intended to do a bit of shopping, but the store Alan wanted to go to was closed unfortunately. So off we went to the Butchart Gardens. Since it is sort of halfway between Victoria and Swartz Bay (ferry terminal), off we went with all of our bags. I guess having a huge camera and tripod to carry doesn't help, but we weren't really travelling light, though my bag was the smaller of the two... Anyway, the gardens were really nice, lovely sunny weather, and even really impressive. Thing is, it feels like somewhere your gran would go, you know? We had a photography mishap, couldn't figure out why the focus area was set the way it was, turns out the lens wasn't quite on. However, the pictures turned out ok, only one or two out of focus ones.
Took the bus over to the ferry and had another gorgeous ferry ride. We were up on the top outside deck, lovely sunny weather, saw a seal, with two guys playing a drum and guitar in the background. Another long bus ride back to the house.