Winter

It was unseasonably cold here for several days - we even had a light dusting of snow - but it has warmed up a bit the last few days though still damp and cold. Here's what it looked like along the West Bay Walkway this morning.

Moonrise

When the moon finally did escape the clouds enough to be seen it had not risen over the skyline like I imagined but much further south. Oh well, it was a nice way to spend an evening. I suspect the moon does rise over the skyline here but not perhaps until next spring.

West Bay Walkway 4

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

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.

Olympic Twilight

My walks lately have taken me out near sunset. These early winter sunsets are around 4:30 or 5 pm here. In summer when sunsets are at 9 pm or later I am usually getting ready for bed. I like the photo above because it shows the Olympic Mountains across the Strait so clearly. Still not much snow up there. The large gray building in the foreground is the Ogden Point Cruise Ship Terminal. And the rocky bits even nearer are on Work Point, the western side of the Inner Harbour entrance.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dusk at Ogden Point

I wish I could tell you why this ship was docked at Ogden Point or where it was going. Whatever the reason, it looks like open seas and faraway ports to me. - Fern

Floating Hotel

Victoria is now well into cruise ship season and between now and October we will see hundreds of these huge floating luxury hotels. The one pictured above is the Radiance of the Seas while it was making the turn to enter the Ogden Point Cruise Ship Terminal. The rocky point in the foreground on the right is Work Point, which marks the western side of the entrance to the Inner Harbour. Ogden Point is just off camera to the left. Click the name of the ship above for a virtual tour of its interior. These ships are quite extraordinary and are much removed from the ocean liner I boarded 50 years ago the first time I crossed the Atlantic. In those days an ocean liner was a means of transportation. Now it is a way of life. Some of these ships have been built as condominiums where the residents live aboard more or less permanently and decide collectively where to cruise, etc.

Floating Palace

I decided that one thing I can do to see things freshly is go out at different times of day. This photo was taken just after sunset, by which time I am normally at home and settled into a film or a book before bed. The subject is not new - this is the cruise ship Celebrity Infinity, which I have photographed during some of its earlier visits. To me these cruise ships always look beautiful but at dusk they look even better.

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!).

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.

Father and Son

Inside Ogden Point Breakwater.