On Tuesday, July 22nd we flew out to Vancouver, British Columbia and took a ferry over to Sidney on Vancouver Island to meet up with the friends we made while traveling the Great Loop. When we arrived, Chuck and Chris welcomed us to their boat Essi-Anna and we started traveling through the Gulf Islands. Along the way we saw quite a few seals,
a few eagles,
and we always were on the lookout for blackberries that were just coming into season.
We stopped in some great anchorages and visited beautiful quaint towns like Cowichan.
Wherever we went we found the people welcoming and the scenery beautiful. In one small town we stopped by an old inn and found the owners trying to install some fencing to keep the local deer from destroying beautiful flower gardens. We helped to set up the fence and netting in an attempt to dissuade the deer but I am sure the deer tried even after our efforts.
The flowers were abolutely beautiful this time of year and we couldn't help trying to capture the beauty of some of them. There is no way to show how beautiful this area is.
We were joined part way through the islands by our other Great Loop friends Bill and Gail on their boat JUWIKA.
As Chuck has a keen radar for bakeries, we found the Bakery Boat in the harbor and paid them a visit. A couple lives on board and they bake fresh goods every morning. We purchased pies, buns, and butter tarts just about everywhere we went.
We visited the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, a beautiful club with an incredible history.
We found parks to walk in (You don't generally see the same type playscapes in our parks in the Southeast).
And, of course, we did what most people do on boats.. we napped and read.
One of the things we, as boaters, noticed was the large tide swings in this part of the country. While we were in a marina we were noticing these flower boxes placed on the pilings along the docks. The next morning we realized that the flowers were well above us.
We had to re-orient ourselves to thinking about the tides while we were anchoring. Fortunately, this area is all deep water compared to what we are used to so it was not so much of a problem
We made our way to Victoria harbor on Friday and on the way in we were able to see the Olympic mountains very clearly.
Once in our slip we toured the town. We were here to attend the Victoria "Splash" on Sunday but first we had to see the Empress Hotel.
When we were here in 2004 we were in a slip directly in front of the hotel and I brought some tea from the hotel to Stacy on the aft deck of the boat we were on. This time, Chuck treated Chris, Stacy and I to High Tea at the Empress.
We had an absolutely wonderful time and can not be more grateful to Chuck and Chris.
On Sunday we attended church in the morning and then climbed a spiral staircase to the bell tower to watch the ringers. This was an interesting display of timing and coordination.
On Sunday evening we attended the "Splash". The Splash is a concert event by the Victoria Symphony where they pull a barge into the inner harbor in front of the Parliament building and the Empress Hotel and the symphony plays from the barge. Boaters attend by dinghy, kayak, canoe or whatever they have and landlubbers cover the grounds of the Parliament building.
The whole spirit of the evening was demonstrated by this one person that had set up his boat in the middle of the crowd and was cooking bratwurst and handing them out to anyone that wanted one. He sent two down to us and we enjoyed them in our dinghy.
The concert opened with dances featuring the local First Nations tribes. This was a special year for the Splash because the next day was the celebration of the 150th birthday of British Columbia. 
At the end of the evening a group played "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes and there was a fireworks display over the harbor.
The total number of people attending the event numbers somewhere around 40 thousand by many reports and it was an event we will not soon forget.
The next day Chuck and Chris had to leave to go back to Washington so we transfered over to JUWIKA and spent the next 3 days with Bill and Gail.
Monday was the BC Day celebration and it seemed that there were more people in town for that than for the splash. There were concerts all day (including Sarah McLaughlin, Burton Cummings and Feist) at the Parliament Building, the "Snowbirds" flew over and performed some aerobatic maneuvers over the harbor and there were demonstrations of 150 years of firefighting equipment.
When we left Victoria with Bill and Gail we headed over to San Juan island to see if we might be able to see the whales. I was looking for humpback whales and didn't know that we were actually looking for Orcas until we found them. We saw a pod traveling and were able to watch them for a while before they left our area.
We traveled for the next couple of days with Bill and Gail and had a great time at anchor. One evening we anchored with quite a few other boats and noticed these guys having dinner. It was innovative for sure but I certainly appreciate our aft deck after watching them.
Bill pulled up anchor and headed back to Sidney where we caught the ferry back to Vancouver for our flight out. 
We had a wonderful time on our trip and would like to cruise in the Pacific Northwest again. The "Splash" was a highlight of a trip made special by good, good friends.
