Canada's last floating Post Office, in Kildonan, is on its route.
The last stop is Bamfield, a small isolated village on Vancouver Island’s rugged west coast.
It is about a 15 minute walk from
downtown.
Fisherman’s Wharf began as part of Victoria’s commercial
fishing harbour where fishing boats brought in salmon, halibut and crab
from local waters.
In the 1990s the city redeveloped the docks into a public waterfront space.
Enroute we sailed through Discovery Passage.
Because of it's deep channel, massive tides surge through a narrow space creating strong currents that can reach 15km/hr (9mi/hr).
The fast-moving waters are constantly bringing nutrients from the ocean floor up toward the surface, creating an exceptionally rich food chain that supports an abundance of marine life.
The tranquil waterways span over 900 kilometers and provide a unique ecosystem that supports both human and wildlife habitation.
The surrounding landscape is dotted with lush coconut groves, paddy fields and traditional villages.
Life moves at a much slower pace.
Most of the poor Vietnamese fishermen could not afford the taxes so they came up with a new type of boat, the “Thung Chai” basket
boat.
It was made of bamboo in the shape of baskets so that it could not be counted as a boat.
The government reluctantly agreed and the local fishermen were spared any tax.
And ever since then these domed vessels have been a feature of the landscape in central Vietnam.
Hoi An was an international port of
Vietnam and an important place on the Silk Road of the world.
For local fishermen, the boat is seen as the most precious
property. Many fisher families still live in their own boat as a house.
They paint eyes at the bow because they think that the boat needs eyes to see things clearly in the front, to navigate well and avoid dangers.
Sometimes it opens to a big fat nothing. And other times, you hit a home run.
