Victoria - In and around the harbor

[gs3]

[Cotuit]

Very nice. I can't wait until I'm old and retired and have the time and money to do one of those inside passage cruises and see places like Victoria.

[PghUSA]

^^ I love those pictures, the Pacific NW area (from Seattle up through Vancouver and on to S. Alaska) has always been an area that fascinated me. So much is squeezed into so little up there, tropical rain forests exist on some of those fjords (sp), I have heard.

[Sundodger]

^ they are temperate rain forests and they are located on the ocean side of mountain ranges. The rainiest part of the state of Washington is the SW of edge of the Olympic Mountains. The driest place in Western Washington, because of the rainshadow created by the mountains, is located on the NE edge of the Olympic Mountains, Sequim. It gets around 15 inches of rain a year while Forks, located in the same county a 70 mile drive away, gets around 120 inches of rain a year. Victoria, BC is partly in the same rainshadow as Sequim, Whidbey Island, and the San Juans. Victoria's average rainfall is around 25 inches of rain a year. Mt. Tolmie, the highest hill in Victoria has sage brush and other dry weather plants. Reminds me a lot of California.

Rainfall map: