August 6, Day 7, saw Sharon and me at sea, headed towards Victoria, our last port of call. Our schedule for the day included an herbal medicine seminar for Sharon, workout for me, lunch, acupuncture appointments for both and a Steve Moris concert at 4pm before cruising into port around 7pm. Squeezed in between the concert and walking off the ship was packing. They really wanted our bags out in the hall before we left the ship at 7:15 but we held one of them back until we returned about 11pm.
If I didn’t mention who Steve Moris was in yesterday’s post, let me give you a very short bio. He is a comedian now but he was a musician for many years, playing backup for groups/individuals such as The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, BJ Thomas, Clint Black, and many others too numerous to remember. He is a good musician but his gift is comedy. His act mixes both of them, plus a few stories about some of the people he has worked with and/or met throughout his career…such as John Denver, Peter Noonan, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills and Nash, etc. He has been doing the cruise scene on the Sapphire Princess for several years but this cruise was his last…he is starting a headliner gig in Las Vegas at a new casino at a theater built by his good friend, Louie Anderson.
The crowd to get off the ship was pretty heavy and we barely made the bus before it pulled out. We started our tour driving along the shore road through some amazing neighborhoods where the lots start at around $2.5 million. The houses on the lots are also amazing and include a handful of famous people, from Vickie Lawrence (Carol Burnett Show), Tom Selleck, Meg and Jennifer Tilly, Steve Nash and several professional hockey players.
After the tour of the fancy parts of town, we headed up the hill to Mt. Tolmie where we had a 360 degree view of Victoria, including a good view of the harbor and the cruise ships at the docks as well as Mount Baker 35 miles to the south in Washington State. Next, we were taken to the Craigdarroch Castle. This amazing “house” was built by one of the original coal barons back in the late 1800’s. His wealth back then would be comparable to Bill Gates today.
The story goes that when he decided to head to North America from Scotland, his wife didn’t want to go so he promised he would build her a castle if she would accompany him…she did and he did. He died before the castle was finished and his widow lived in the castle, alone for the remaining 18 years of her life. The castle was handed down to the surviving family members but the upkeep and taxes to keep it livable became too much to bear. Eventually, the castle passed thru several hands but eventually was taken over by the government due to delinquent taxes. Now the castle is a huge tourist attraction.
The castle is 4 stories tall and has a huge amount of original and reproduced artifacts from the time when the original owners lived there. Apparently, they kept the castle open for the cruise ship visitors way past normal hours…and we’re glad they did.
Following the castle tour, we drove around downtown Victoria for a while. It looks like an interesting place to live/visit and we wouldn’t mind seeing more of it. I’m afraid the pictures we took from the windows of the bus don’t do it justice.
Well, it’s midnight and we have left the docks…so quietly and smoothly that we didn’t feel a thing. I guess everyone made it back to the ship on time. We only have about 80 miles to Seattle but since it’s night and this area is pretty congested, the ship will be moving pretty slowly. We’re due to dock in Seattle around 5:30am or so. However, we will not be leaving the ship until sometime after that. In fact, we’re not due to meet in our disembarkation assembly area until 8:30am.
Customs will tell the ship when they are ready and the areas will disembark and head for customs at that time. Perhaps the process of clearing customs won’t be too bad with smaller groups going through one at a time. Once we clear customs, we’ll be taken to the airport by bus.
For some reason, our flight was booked for a 5:30pm departure (7:30pm Central Standard Time) so we will have some time to kill in the airport. We’re due to arrive at DFW around 11:30pm. You probably will not see another post from me until I get home sometime Monday.
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