Visitors to Port Angeles and Sequim can now purchase a one-day “royal tour” of Butchart Gardens and other sites in Victoria, the Canadian city across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The partnership between Black Ball Ferry Line, which runs the MV Coho, and Royal Tours of Victoria began Friday and will be offered daily Monday through Saturday throughout the summer, Black Ball said in a statement.
The tour price of $115.99 in U.S. currency for adults includes passage on the Coho, which travels between Port Angeles and Victoria, and admission to Butchart Gardens.
The tour bus will pick up travelers at many motels and other sites in Port Angeles and Sequim, said Jimmy Gorst, owner of Royal Tours, and will meet tour members also at the Port Angeles ferry dock on Railroad Avenue.
The tour bus will travel on the 8:20 a.m. sailing of the Coho, arriving in Victoria at 10 a.m.
Victoria sights
Once in Victoria, the tour will take travelers first to Butchart Gardens, 55 acres of floral display that is a National Historic Site of Canada.
And that’s only the beginnng.
A “deluxe tour” of Victoria will include sightseeing in the campus of the University Of Victoria, Beacon Hill Park, Chinatown and Victoria’s old town and a panoramic view of the area from Mount Tolmie.
The tour finishes at about 2:45 p.m. downtown in the Inner Harbour area in front of the Fairmont Empress Hotel, allowing tour members about 3 ½ hours of free time for shopping, visiting the Royal British Columbia Museum or other activites before they board the Coho at 7:30 p.m. for the return to the Peninsula.
“It’s a great opportunity for people to come over on the Black Ball and see all those things in one day,” said Sandra Hudson of Good Relations Inc., publicist for Black Ball Ferry Line.
During the 90-minute crossing on the Coho — which provides year-round, daily passage between Port Angeles and Victoria — on-board amenities including a cafe and snack bar, gift shop, duty free shopping and a solarium viewing area on the top passenger deck.
Reservations are required and can be made through Royal Tours at 888-381-1800.
Pick-up times and places can be arranged then, Gorst said.
For more about Black Ball Ferry Line, see www.CohoFerry.com.
