Vancouver Island - the North

Bald Eagle sentinel near Ferry Terminal

The north of Vancouver Island has that remote, wilderness feel about it which is immediately obvious to any and all visitors. I had been lucky enough to venture to the north of Vancouver Island in 2009, specifically to Telegraph Cove to enjoy a Grizzly Bear cruise to Knight Inlet across the passage. [There are no Grizzlies on Vancouver Island however because of the topographical challenges of the mainland the best way to see some feeding bears is to come from the sea to where they gather in Spring and Summer for coastal feasting in the estuaries.] It turned out to be one of the many highlights of that tour. Sad to say, while I wanted to return to Telegraph Cove, I found it impossible to commit to another Grizzly cruise because of the expense that would be involved for the entire family, [some $300 per head]. This also was easier to accept as we had already seen some wild Grizzlies in Jasper National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park.

Our misty bay near Telegraph Cove

Matt and Millie in the morning

Anyway Telegraph Cove is such a sweet little place with wonderful views out over the water, especially when colourfully lit by the setting sun, that the brief side trip was well worth it. We camped there in a wet, dripping moss-covered Forest a small walk from a rocky bay. It was wonderful. It was also a short drive into the little harbor village itself. Strolling around the board walk admiring the wharves, the boats, the wailing gulls and the salty smell of the sea are simple experiences worth enjoying and repeating. The Cove also boasts a small but interesting Whale Museum that interprets the cetacean species of the area as well as the other marine mammals. Of interest to me was a freshly dead Dall’s Porpoise that was killed –it was summised – by being chased by Orcas. The animal was strapped against the wharf between it and a boat. It was a striking pied small whale with a prominent white tipped black dorsal fin. As luck would have it, standing on the boardwalk, adjacent to the museum, I was lucky enough to see a live one surface twice, the distinct dorsal fin colour, making its identity clear.

Telegraph Cove

The morning we awoke near Telegraph Cove it was wintery; cold, misty and a striking contrast to the summer we had encountered everywhere else. The bay was beautiful with a Bald Eagle standing silently on a tall tree overlooking us and the mute gulls of the bay. 

The view from our campsite

Malcolm Island Beach

Soon we had to leave Telegraph Cove to travel north to Port Mac Neil from where we would catch a ferry to Malcolm Island. We had been kindly invited here by a fishing fanatic friend from Nakusp Secondary School, specifically a Physics teacher named Dorian Boswell. At our first meeting in early January in Nakusp Dorian had enthusiastically described Malcolm Island as a very special place. “Scenery. Whales. Fish. Views. It’s got everything” The words were illustrated with quickly uploaded photos on his laptop. And he wasn’t just talking, he had been making an annual pilgrimage there every year for the last ten years. “I’ll help you catch some fresh salmon – no problem”, Dorian had boasted. That, for me, was the clincher. I’m not a fisherman per se but the shame in returning to Australia without landing a wild salmon was something I was not going to contemplate. So I decided there and then , as soon as the invitation was offered that this, a camping trip to Malcolm Island, was to be a cornerstone of our Summer Vacation.

It was a decision that would soon be vindicated.

If anything, in my opinion, Dorian had undersold the place. Upon arriving we looked across the still blue waters to the still snow-capped Mountains of the mainland. Above the nearby kelp forests waving in the shallow waters with the tide, flew energetically flapping flocks of Rhinocerous Auklets, swarming by in squadrons as well as the odd pair of the pied Pigeon Guillemots. Our camp site was carved out of secondary growth forest while the ancient old growth grew quietly close by and a few feet from our tent was a brilliant black beach with little sand but polished rocks decorated further with piles of driftwood in a myriad of shapes and sizes. It was Canada and it made me smile.

Least Sandpipers on our beach

The first night, and subsequent nights ended with a beautiful sunset over the water.

Simply stunning sunsets

Imagine - sitting, sipping a cold beer, just taking it in............................

Sea views

A view of our campsite from the water

interior lake

We had several days in and around Malcolm Island and in every direction it was beautiful. The kids had a great time too as they played with Dorian’s kids; Abby and Levi who taught them the island’s games. Games they had invented and perfected over ten years of regular visits. To my boy’s delight they involved guns, warfare and guns. Also to my boys' delight was the size and scale of the Boswell's camp; an enterprise that took two vehicles to drag from Nakusp but it featured a fully covered kitchen with a large gas fired bbq plus a fire warmed tent and living quarters, powered by a generator and to top it all off a movie projector [plus speakers] that threw its image onto a large white sheet fastened tight for the only camping-big-screen-movies that I've experienced!

interior lake

Wildlife was great and we had regular views of seabirds plus a changing parade of mammals going by. On the first evening we were treated with a huge male Stellers Sea Lion swimming by, noisily exhaling as he went. The second a young Sea Otter, swimming in stereotypical fashion –on his back –swam by the camp. On the third evening a Harbour or Common Seal visited. The next night a Grey Whale swam by not thirty metres from shore. To top it off a Humpback was seen by virtue of its large pectoral fin and occasionally the backs of Harbour Porpoise were seen. Sadly, and this was the only regret of our visit, was the no show of the island’s Orcas. Close by to our campsite was an elevated observation platform and Orca Information board suggesting that the whales’ visits were not uncommon. The unseen Orcas of the waters around Malcolm Island are resident pods that feed exclusively on the fish, in particular it seems, they like the salmon.          

Fish!!!!!

Captain Dorian - smiling but a killer of fish...............

And I caught some salmon! Or rather Dorian hooked some salmon and I played fisherman by reeling the fighting fish towards the surface where it could be safely netted. WE caught several fish on ‘my morning’ including several salmon of a couple of sorts plus a Halibut  Megan, too, had a morning on the water and caught some fish. Needless to say fish feasting with the Boswell's was the order of the day that evening and very pleasant it was too to 'break bread' with them.

All in all our Malcolm Island visit was an experience that we valued greatly and something that we will long remember. A large thank-you to Dorian, his wife Sherri, and their patient children!!