Arriving by Air, Ferry, Setting up hotel for laptop 

Approaching Vancouver 

Then the Ferry To Victoria

Ok finally made it. Ferry trip wasn't that bad other than long lines in customs and just missed one Ferry bus and had to wait 2 hours for next at Vancouver airport. Great weather but could see smog over Vancouver from the bay.

I wondered what those big barrel things were on 5th ferry deck.

Depth charges to kill Russian subs or fish for whales? Or do you climb in and it shoots you out to sea if the ship is sinking or on fire Ah.. they shoot out life rafts that self inflate. Not sure how you get to them..wait for the ship to sink I guess and swim off the deck 

Still puzzled by the "Marine Escape" boxes...in case a sea lion jumps on board the ship you can drop it overboard?Obviously I haven't spent much time at sea..or across a bay.

Laptop Connection
I had a terrible time getting Internet connection to work. The great excite freeISP worked fine from Phoenix but would not set up from Victoria, using either of the a Victoria access numbers.

Gave up and tried AOL. They have one Victoria dial up set up using it but when I put in address and got to AZ the idiot screen says there is no state or province with that 2 letter abbreviation! After 3 calls with helpful AOL Canada techs, I pretend my address is the hotel, but dial up had to try 3 times to get a connection but seems ok when I get connected!

Room isn't laptop friendly. Have to run my 30 foot phone extension I got in Thailand from the only phone jack (I always bring a Y adopter) and no electrical any where near desk where I'm sitting with lap top. So have wires all over the room!

Room is smaller than what I'm use to but functional.  For only $Cdn 49.95 is fine.  Normal cost is more since we are in peak season, but Travellers will match any other price in town.  They bought up about 8 other motels and some apartments they converted to hotels and they are very aggressive in pricing. In October rooms are as little as $Cnd 29.95 and that's Canadian not U.S. $!