I Gotta Pee! AKA – Ruff, Ruff, Ruff
Friday August 19th we left Victoria headed for some warmer waters. In all the years of boating in this area we have never been to Butchart Gardens. By car Butchart is just a short distance from Victoria but by boat you have to go up north around the Saanich Peninsula then south again.
Our destination anchorage was Tod Inlet where we were told the water actually gets fairly warm. From Tod Inlet you can dinghy to a dock that provides a secret back entrance to Butchart Gardens.
As we entered the inlet the water turned a beautiful green color. Todd anchored his boat and we rafted to him in the largest part of the narrow inlet. It was a packed but beautiful anchorage not unlike many of the anchorages we experience further north in Desolation Sound.
Best of all the water was plenty warm enough to swim! Right after we got tied up we all jumped in the water to cool off and play on the toys. Skylar and I both stood on the paddle board and rocked it until one of us lost our balance and fell off. He usually got me. The kids swam and played in the water until they were exhausted. We had a quiet night on the hook exited to see the gardens and fireworks display the next day.
On Saturday we made our way through the back entrance for lunch at the Butchart restaurant. They got our reservations screwed up but fortunately they gave us a great outside table for all 8 of us overlooking the gardens. We had a great meal! Most of us got their tea which includes a bunch of delicious food samplings. The kids really loved it. Mid lunch the kids took our blankets out to the fireworks viewing area and laid them out to claim our spot for the evening fireworks show. We wandered through the incredible gardens after lunch then back to the boat.
More swimming and we set a couple shrimp pots before we headed back to Butchart for the fireworks show. The show was incredible! Much bigger and longer than we expected, we all had a lot of fun.
That evening the inlet got a little rowdy. A few drunk boats yelling at each other kept it interesting. Then a very drunk guy was trying to get his dog to shore on a very small blow up raft without oars. It was very dark and he couldn’t quite figure out. Him and his dog were trying to find anyplace the dog could get off and pee and high tide made it very difficult. He gave the whole inlet a loud play by play encounter of all his difficulties finding a beach suitable for the dog. Very entertaining!
