Worth a Second Look - 4

I've taken many photos of these huge floating hotels while they are moored at Ogden Point or entering or leaving the harbor but I think this is my favorite. I took it in May 2011. There was lots of snow on the Olympic Peninsula mountains that year. I like the contrast between the bright mountains in the background and the dark rocks of Work Point in the foreground and the way these two features frame the huge ship.

West Bay Walkway 4

The West Bay walkway is a great place to view the cruise ships moored at Ogden Point.

MS Westerdam

This is the MS Westerdam, one of the last cruise ships of this year. It usually goes from Seattle to Alaska and back with four or five stops on the way. To the right of the Westerdam you can see the Coho, a car ferry that travels between here and Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula in the USA. Also visible is one of the Harbour Air seaplanes taking off on a flight to Vancouver.

Big!

The cruise ships are back. From now until October there will be one or two of these behemoths at Ogden Point, sometimes even three. This is the Norwegian Pearl as seen through what I considered to be the appropriate lens, a 16mm fisheye.

Ships That Pass In The Night

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

While waiting for the moon on Saturday night.

Jewel of the Seas

I haven't been walking the West Bay Walkway lately so I took a stroll down there a few days ago. It's still as lovely as ever. The cruise ship in the distance is the Jewel of the Seas.

Celebrity Infinity

A couple of weeks ago I posted a close-up photo of some cruise ships at Ogden Point. The above photo is is how I see them more often, from the perspective of the West Bay Walkway. This is the Celebrity Infinity.

They're Back!

The cruise ship season has started once again and between now and October about 200 of these behemoths will dock at Ogden point and disgorge between 2,000 and 3,000 passengers for a brief visit to Victoria. Each ship's visit will drop about $50,000 into the local economy between Harbours Board fees and passenger expenditures. The two ships pictured above are the Norwegian Sun and the Celebrity Solstice.

Ogden Point

At the Western end of Dallas Road is Ogden Point. This point marks one side of the entrance to the Inner Harbour and its breakwater protects deepwater moorage facilities where the cruise ships dock. I always like to get close to these monsters because their size is simply breathtaking.

Ogden Point Breakwater

The cruise ships that visit Victoria really light up the night sky. - Fern

The Hippo and the Whale

Here's another sign that summer is upon us - those floating bus tours called the Hippo. These buses look pretty big on the street but next to leviathan they seem more like shrimp than hippos. Victoria Hippo Tours seem perfectly appropriate for a city that has so much to offer both on land and on the water.

Norwegian Pearl

It's that time of year again, when these vast floating hotels nudge their way into their berths at Ogden Point (on the left) to give their passengers a few hours in Victoria. This one is called the Norwegian Pearl. The mountains in the background are on the Olympic Peninsula in the USA.

Fishing in the Fog

A little morning fog didn't deter this fisherman from trying his luck off the West Bay Walkway.

Cruise Ship Season

It's that time of year again; from now until October we'll be hosting visits by over 200 of these vast floating Hotels. This is the Celebrity Solstice. It can carry up to 2,850 passengers served by 1,500 crew. When launched in 2008 it cost $750 million.

The Undulating Waves

Down at Fleming Beach,the strong winds were making waves; both on the sea and in the long grasses. Dramatic but chilly! - Fern

Rhapsody of the Seas

While I'm back now from my holiday in Alberta, it may take me a few days to shift gears and get back into Victoria. In the meantime, here's a photo from a few weeks ago of the Rhapsody of the Seas being towed into her berth at Ogden Point. Amazing power in those tiny tugs. This photo was taken from my favorite walk along the West Bay Walkway.

Two Ships

If you like things that float on the water Victoria is a good place to live since pretty well every type of watercraft can be seen most days if you're near the shore. Here's two extremes I saw recently. Above is one of the many cruise ships that stop here regularly, the Silver Shadow. And below is one of those instantly recognizable little Harbour Ferries.

Sea Princess

To provide a little contrast to yesterday's post on the tiny little Harbour Ferries, just around the corner from Fisherman's Wharf is Ogden Point, where monstrous cruise ships such as this, the Sea Princess, tie up to disgorge their passengers.

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I'm going down to Seattle for the next few days so until Thursday these posts will be going up automatically (I hope!).

Photogenic Fisgard Lighthouse

Living close to the Fisgard Lighthouse is like having a beautiful model available to one at any time and it would be foolish not to take advantage of such a situation. Consequently, regular visitors to this blog have already seen several photos of this lighthouse and can expect to see many more. Last time I was out there I tried to find some new angles by walking around it several times. It looks good from every angle. I like this shot particularly because of the tiny cruise ship visible on the horizon to the left.

Cruise Ships

Almost exactly two years ago I posted a photo of the cruise ship pictured above, the Celebrity Infinity, as it turned before docking at Ogden Point. Cruise ships are an important part of the local economy since they represent considerable income, both from the various fees charged by the Harbours Board as well as by the money spent by their passengers while they are here - figure between thirty and fifty thousand dollars for each ship for an overnight stay. These huge floating hotels carry about 2,000 people each and as you can see by the photo to the right, sometimes we have as many as three of these ships here at the same time. Between now and October we'll see about 200 more.