West Coast Travels: Day 1 - Ferries, Fish and Forests

Welcome to a brand new blog series. It has been just over two years since my last entry due to a little thing called COVID-19 that curtailed any travelling since March 2020. But, here we are in October 2021 and my family and I are back out exploring own country this time around. We have headed all the way to the west coast of Canada. 

After landing in Vancouver and spending our first night near the airport our first destination was Vancouver Island. Specifically, we are exploring the Pacific Marine Circle Route for three days before heading back to the mainland. We are renting a cabin in Jordan River as our home base. Jordan River is about one hour from Victoria and is popular for its hiking and amazing surf.

First I need to rewind to the beginning of the day. We still needed to get ourselves from the airport all the way to our cabin in Jordan River. This involved catching the 10:00 am ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on the way to Victoria. We made a brief stop in Victoria to visit Fisherman’s Wharf for some lunch. I specifically picked Fisherman’s Wharf due to The Fish Store being there. Not only is the Fish Store able to purchase and process fish directly from the fisherman but they also have gluten free options. I opted to have the BC halibut fish & chips and it was amazing! So fresh and flaky. Next was a stop at the grocery store to stock up on supplies to keep us going for the next few days. Finally, we joined Hwy 14 and the Pacific Marine Circle route towards Sooke and our final destination of Jordan River.

Our AirBnb in Jordan River is a small two bedroom cabin nestled amongst the trees of the Pacific Northwest Rainforest on Vancouver Island. From here there are plenty of beaches and hiking trails to explore. We plan to tackle several of them over the next couple of days.

On the ferry to Vancouver Island

Yummy fish & chips

Our AirBnb cabin