Short Evening in Victoria

[VAWCB]

   Our August Crown Princess cruise is scheduled to stop in Victoria from 7:00 PM to midnight on August 19.  Princess excursions include Butchart Gardens and a whale watching trip.  Sunset is apparently around 8:20 so part of the excursion will be at night.  I know that the gardens are lit, but don’t know how successful a night whale watching cruise might be.  Does anyone have experience with a night whale trip?  Any insight will be appreciated.

[Heidi13]

17 hours ago, VAWCB said:

   Our August Crown Princess cruise is scheduled to stop in Victoria from 7:00 PM to midnight on August 19.  Princess excursions include Butchart Gardens and a whale watching trip.  Sunset is apparently around 8:20 so part of the excursion will be at night.  I know that the gardens are lit, but don’t know how successful a night whale watching cruise might be.  Does anyone have experience with a night whale trip?  Any insight will be appreciated.

 

Butchart Gardens - After rush hour traffic, I would allow about 45 mins drive to the Gardens, so from the bottom of the gangway to the Garden's ticket booths is probably 1 hr. Allowing all aboard at 23:30, you will need to be leaving the gardens about 22:30. This will only provide about 2 hrs at the Gardens, and all from sunset onwards. 

 

Whale Watching - most of the local whale watching boats are RIB's. In addition to questionable whale watching after sunset, I certainly would not be out in these waters at 30 kts in the dark. Way too many deadheads and wood floating on the surface.

 

The other factor to consider is the vessel experiencing heavy weather in the Pacific Ocean. A number of Victoria arrivals are delayed, but the departures are not changed.

[VAWCB]

   Thanks for your observations.  There are enough problems with whale watching that we will cross that one off the possibilities.  We will probably choose the Butchart excursion that Princess offers and hope for the best.