Posted on July 30, 2010 by jason
We stopped by San Jorge to check out the ferry schedule to Ometepe and as luck would have it there was a ferry leaving in 20 minutes. Another boat ride!
This one was pretty easy. For about $20 USD, we could ship the bus and all four of us over to the island. Since we were still a little paranoid after the break-in, we found a perch right above the bus and took a seat where we could see it.
Every single person on the ferry went by the bus and took a gander. Some folks pressed their noses against the glass, some folks used the mirrors to check their hair, some were just drawnd to lean against it. I’m pretty sure that every single person on the ferry put their hands on the car at some point. I never knew how much attention it got when we weren’t around and this was a bit of an eye-opener.
Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua formed by two volcanoes. We hadn’t planned on ferrying over that day so we were a little out of sorts when we arrived. We found a place next to the water with a good view of the biggest volcano.
We swam in the warm lake and then whipped up some dinner. Doug was introduced to the wonders of Cavender’s Greek seasoning and we enjoyed a peaceful evening next to some mooing cows.
I spent some time with my new friend that I named Elsie (pictured) and tried some long exposures using my thoroughly emptied wine glass as a tripod. All in a day’s work.
Posted on October 8, 2009 by angela
Or… The Storia Victoria.
The 8:20 ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, B.C. requires that you get in line and park your car at 7am. We’re not morning people, so this was a challenge. There is nothing like having to get up really early to ensure you don’t sleep well. We bundled up, got some coffee and sat in the van for an hour and half in the ferry parking lot. No firewood allowed into Canada, so we added ours to the workers’ truckload of it. I’m sure that the workers take the truck to the other side of town and sell it to the Olympic NP campers.
Finally, they started loading. Oops, the car won’t start. Jason mentioned he’d read not to wait for the ferry with the radio on, that it would drain your battery. Now we know that is true. We must have a short or some other electrical issue too, as the radio shouldn’t drain the battery in an hour. One more thing for the list. Luckily, the nice folks working there had a portable battery jumper thing. Must happen all the time. Still, we got the eye rolls… dumb Californians in their hippie van.
A fairly quick trip across the straight with no whales spotted.
We had made the decision to head to Canada late the night before. We originally thought we were going to go to Seattle (which we will probably still do), but our hot springs friend said it was a better ferry/customs experience from Port Angeles than from Seattle and he was right. Customs was a breeze, though they did question our van making it up from California.
We realized after about 10 minutes in BC that we were not quite prepared to be in another country. Our GPS did not have Canadian maps loaded on it (shouldn’t “North American Edition” include Canada too?), we had no money and couldn’t find an actual bank, and our cell phones weren’t working. Oh well.
Anyway, the night before we had gotten a comment from Anne-Marie in Victoria asking if we were headed her way. Why yes we were…
She works for the Legislature at the Parliament building – the beautiful building in all photos of Victoria. We were to meet her there for tea. That’s right, we get off the boat, get a special tour of the most gorgeous building in Victoria, and have tea in the private legislature dining room. Nice way to get introduced to a new country! They do this for everyone, eh?
Anne-Marie is planning an extended trip with her teenagers next year. Her plans sound incredible: India, Cambodia, Italy, and a bike-barge trip that sounds awesome. I want to go!
After tea, we walked around Victoria some more, hit their Chinatown and got some dim sum. In true tourist-town style, there were buskers everywhere, currency exchange counters, and multiple ice cream shops on every block. We got back in the van and did the scenic drive around the town before heading up the eastern coast of the island. We were still unsure of our plans once we hit Nanaimo: either ferry to Vancouver or go across the island to Tofino.
Before dark, we were all exhausted so we stopped at a motel “with sea view” and called it a night. We went to bed thinking Vancouver, but in the morning we had a suggestion to see Salt Springs Island. That’s pretty much how the trip is going – a daily decision on where we are headed that changes hourly until we get somewhere.
