Victoria, Victoria… what city harbor in the Pacific Northwest could rival it for beauty and maritime history? Capital of British Columbia, blessed with a wonderful and gorgeous downtown waterfront featuring capital architecture and vibrant activity, the city figures prominently in the nautical history of not just the region, but of the entire North Pacific Ocean.
Equidistant from Seattle and Vancouver, the two great population centers of the region, Victoria beckons sailors looking for a quick weekend away from home. Located squarely in the mask of the same rain shadow that makes Sequim one of the sunniest places in Western Washington, Victoria also enjoys enviable weather for getaways even in the winter months.
But Victoria offers some challenges to the cheap sailor. The best anchorage in the most desirable location–the Inner Harbour–is entirely off-limits to anchoring. Much admiration and approval has been written elsewhere about the picturesque Causeway floats and enormous convenience of the other available public floats in the Inner Harbour, all of it entirely true, but it’s also indisputably the case that they are not cheap: at 1.80 CAD per foot during the high season, they are in-line or a bit higher than most private marinas in the area. While the value this pricing represents is great, it’s not in keeping with the cheap sailor’s intent to pay market rates.
The areas north of the city along the Saanich Peninsula also offer a wide variety of marinas and a number of good anchorages, but those will be outside the scope of consideration for this discussion. It’s certainly possible to reach Victoria easily from Sidney by rental car or public transit, but we wanted to find a closer alternative (particularly considering the poor experiences we had with the Victoria Regional Transit System).
Anchorages
Pickings are sparse for secure all-weather anchorages in Victoria. Cadboro and Oak Bay both leap out as options from a quick look at the charts.
Unfortunately, both these locations share the same general deficiency, which is that they offer very little protection against any sort of southerly wind. Southwesterlies are common in the summer months as the turbo-charged west wind roars in off the Strait of Juan de Fuca and curls up through Haro Strait. And the winter southeasterlies that howl up from Puget Sound are not to be trifled with in the colder months, either.
Gonzales Bay was brought to our attention as a possibility, but it is both small and shallow for the average cruising sailboat.
However, any of these three could be reasonable options in the correct weather conditions.
Fleming Bay is also mentioned in several guidebooks but it’s tiny and we’ve heard tell the locals strongly discourage anchoring there.
The best all-weather anchorage for Victoria, we feel, is Esquimalt Harbour. Esquimalt offers several options with good holding and fair protection, including Thetis Cove, Cole Island, and Limekiln Cove. A dinghy with a good engine or an oarsman with a strong back will be required to explore the full range of the harbour from any of these anchorages, however. Thetis Cove is the closest to the best landing spot, Portage Park.
Located to the west of the Inner Harbour, off Royal Roads, Esquimalt is, and has been since 1865, the home of the Royal Canadian Navy’s main West Coast base, HMCS Naden. Almost no one actually calls it Naden. Regardless, the Queen’s Harbourmaster controls access to all of Esquimalt harbour and you are required to check in with them on VHF channel 10 when entering or getting underway within the waterway. Try as I might, after listening in on the ops channel for four days straight, I could never quite catch the common call sign for QHM; however, they did answer to “Harbor Control” when I hailed and simply requested a destination both coming in and heading out. There were no hassles involved.
The best guidebook we found for all these areas (and many others besides) is a little-known digital publication from Salish Sea Pilot. The free, downloadable PDF guide for the Gulf Islands (they offer an equally up-to-date and easy-to-use guide for the San Juans) is the clearest, most informative, most comprehensive guide to anchorages and landings available to day, bar none–including the expensive annual publications covering the region.
Although “cheap” is usually synonymous with “anchoring” in this part of the world, we found the best option to be the exercise of our reciprocal mooring privileges with the Canadian Forces Sailing Association (CFSA). Located adjacent to the Esquimalt Graving Dock, the CFSA docks and clubhouse are quaint and lovely and active. The facilities are excellent and the members and staff friendly and accommodating. We can’t recommend a stop there highly enough, should you happen to belong to a club that has an agreement with them.
Landings
In a city with few good available anchorages, it should come as no surprise that there are also very few places convenient for sailors to land their dinghies.
Beach landings are possible at the public beaches in Cadboro and Oak Bay, although the security of your unattended dinghy may be an open question. Both bays host marinas; it’s possible that some wheedling and a fresh crab or two might earn you a dinghy spot at the docks for coming and going during business hours.
Similarly, Portage Regional Park in Esquimalt offers beach access, but uncertain security, particularly after dark. However, there are places where you could reasonably conceal most small dinghies (small dinghies being the most likely sort for a cheap sailor to possess). Whether or not hiding it makes it more or less susceptible to shenanigans is a judgement call left to the reader.
Surrounding Neighborhoods
Esquimalt itself presents as very blue-collar and suburban. The massive graving dock and naval base dominate the Esquimalt Harbour side of the peninsula; gleaming, steel and glass high-rise projects line the Inner Harbour side. The lower peninsula, where you are likely to land and spend some of your time, is actually an amalgam of Esquimalt, the township of View Royal, and the Songhees Indian Reserve.
It’s about a 3 mile walk to downtown Victoria. Alternatively, the number 24 and 25 buses run from Admiral’s Walk to downtown. The bus will cost you $2.50 each way, unless you can find the elusive $5 day pass, which will let you ride as often as you like during a 24 hour period.
We asked a driver about the day pass–they don’t sell them on the bus. We stopped in at three different stores that are listed as pass suppliers, and they all were out of them, and all told us that they were almost always out of them, and that the Transit Authority refused to give out any more.
This intransigence became less puzzling throughout the day as various transit workers did their best to screw us over; we were shorted on time when we asked for transfers, and one driver (of a bus with plenty of empty seats left) just outright drove past us at a stop, despite our flailing hands and shouts. He just looked at us and shrugged as he drove on by.
So, if you can bring a bike, that’s what we would recommend. Otherwise, whether you would prefer to take the bus or not, be prepared to hike… there’s no guarantee they’ll let you on board the bus!
A particularly ambitious and athletic crew could follow the lead of the natives and portage their dinghy across from Portage Park into the Gorge Waterway, but be prepared for some strange looks as you cross the busy Island Highway.
Provisions and Services
There is an ideally situated shopping complex just up the street from Portage Park. Located at Admirals Road and Hallowell in View Royal, the Admiral’s Walk complex includes a Thrifty Foods, a Pharmasave drugstore, a few restaurants, and a laundromat.
A private housing development sits between the park and the shopping center, but the brand new Esquimalt and Nanaimo walking trail going in along the former rail line which skirts the park will allow an easy walk around the development and onto a public street flanking the complex.
You won’t find any Internet service to speak of in Esquimalt Harbour, and the Navy might take it the wrong way if you started monkeying around on deck with your super-powered wifi snooping antenna setup next to their base anyway.
Moka House coffee shop, in the Admiral’s Walk complex, does offer complimentary internet access for paying customers.
Things to See
Here, again, Victoria is less accommodating to the cheap sailor than some other ports we could mention. It’s not that Victoria doesn’t have plenty of excellent things to see; it’s just that the best of them tend to be expensive… Butchart Gardens, the Royal British Columbia Museum, and Craigdarroch Castle are all marvelous, but will take a bite out of your wallet.
But there are a few alternatives–none of which eclipse the fact that you really should just cough up the cash to go see Butchart Gardens and the Royal BC Museum, as well.
We enjoyed just spending some time walking around Beacon Hill Park (which, by the way, has its own bit of nautical heritage to disgorge: the name comes from Mount Beacon, on which a range had been established to help guide early mariners into the harbour). The surrounding neighborhoods are equally charming, a mix of modern apartments, quaint cottages, and vintage Victorian houses on display. For the more astute observer, a wander around the streets of Victoria can be a history lesson in itself.
There are also the British Columbia parliament buildings (the other fascinating architectural exhibit overlooking the Inner Harbour) which may be toured for free.
As an alternative to Butchart Gardens, consider visiting the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific. Maintained almost entirely by volunteers, the story behind the varied gardens there is interesting enough to warrant a visit in and of itself. But the gardens have a creditable selection of flowers and foliage, for folks who are into such things, as well as an artful Japanese Garden, and a nature trail through a conservancy area filled with birds and other wildlife.
Notwithstanding some recent structural problems, the Maritime Museum of British Columbia is also a must-see stop for visiting sailors. Located downtown in historic Bastion Square right off the Inner Harbour, the very building seems to ooze historical import.
We’ll give honorable mentions to the Pacific Undersea Gardens, Emily Carr House, and the Fisgard Point Lighthouse/Fort Rodd Park, all of which also offer good entertainment value for the dollar, but which I don’t have space to go into here.
With all this to do, and much more left unlisted, it’s a good thing Victoria is so close for most Northwest sailors… you’ll be back again and again and again and never exhaust the possibilities for entertainment and leisure available in British Columbia’s stately capital city.