A couple of months ago, shortly after returning from our World Cruise, we reserved one of the Victoria Worldmark condos for our daughter and son-in-law. This was our thanks to them for looking after our dogs and cat while we were away. Our son and daughter-in-law had recently returned from Dubai, so all four of them headed over for the weekend, returning with stories of visiting some excellent craft breweries.

What’s good for the kids works, is good for us, so with good friends Richard & Karen we spent a 4-day long weekend in Victoria, BC.

                                                    Google Map Showing Our Route

Picking up Richard and Karen in Port Moody, we set course for the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, for the 13:00 departure to Swartz Bay, aboard Coastal Celebration.

                                 Coastal Celebration Approaching Tsawwassen (BC Ferries)

Once aboard, we headed straight to the buffet, which fortunately was at fwd end of the ship, so we had a great view of the entire voyage. The ship has both a cafeteria and buffet, but at $20, we find the buffet good value for what is on offer. Click here for the Buffet Menu. The selection do change, so the items we enjoyed included the salmon, prawns and an exceptional curry. Did I mention the exceptional desserts, which also includes rice pudding.

Having been through Active Pass literally thousands of times, even for me, it is still one of the highlights of the voyage.

                                                               Active Pass Chart (BC Ferries)

                                                 Ferries in Active Pass (Hello BC)

We remained in the buffet until shortly before arrival Swartz Bay, which is another benefit of this lounge.

With an easy drive down Island and through downtown Victoria, we arrived at the condo shortly before the check-in time of 16:00. No worries, as our room was already ready. We booked one of the penthouses and were pleasantly surprised that we were assigned the top deck, which has the best views.

                                                            View from our 9th floor balcony

                                                                        Selection of Condo Photos

For the return trip we normally retrace our route catching a ferry at Swartz Bay and back to the Mainland, at Tsawwassen. Our friends Richard and Karen had never been in the Western suburbs, so we decided to take a circuitous route along the coast and back to the Mainland through Duke Point Ferry Terminal. Check out the Google Map above for the route.

In the next couple of days I’ll develop a couple of posts describing the craft brewery tour, winery tour and the circuitous return trip.