Victoria, BC

The plan for today was to launch the kayaks at the Goldstream Boathouse and head up the Finlayson Arm to catch a salmon for supper. We knew it was a blustery day, but thought the arm would be protected. It's rougher than we like and a guy at the launch tells us about a dad drowning in a tragic accident just last week. We decide to head to Banfield, Park in Victoria and launch the kayaks in what is called the 'Gorge Waterway' section of the Victoria harbor. 

Unloaded and ready to go. 

Good thing we have wheels for our kayaks as it is quite a steep run down to the dock since it is low tide. 

Public dock at Banfield, Park

First we paddle to the right (north) and pass under The Bay Street bridge but very soon we can see we are heading into the Upper Harbor and it looks very busy and choppy from the wind.. We opt to turn around and head into the peaceful gorge portion of the water and it is mainly protected from the wind. 

Very nice homes with private docks along the way. 

We paddle up as far as the 'Reversing Falls" and decide we are passing on those :) Back to our truck and call it a success for our first time out on kayaks in salt water. 

We head to Beacon Hill park and find this Mile Zero monument. It is of significant interest to us for two very big reasons. First, The Mile Zero marker signifies the starting point of the TransCanada highway, the longest national highway in the world! It is about 7,820 km (4,860 miles) to St. John's, Newfoundland. Though we will be travelling other highways as well to get to the east coast, we will hopefully get to St. John's.

Terry Fox Memorial in behind the Mile 0 Monument

The second significance is the Terry Fox Memorial just behind the Mile 0 monument. In our planning for our cross Canada trip, we had read of the Terry Fox Memorial just outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario where sadly Terry had to give up his run across Canada as the cancer had spread to his lungs. That memorial is on our radar to visit, but we had no idea that this was to be his finishing destination. Such an amazing young man. 

 

Terry Fox Memorial 

A True Canadian Hero