Vancouver Island the West

Tom enroute to Tofino

Leaving the North we returned south towards Nanaimo and had a well deserved night in a sadly rather smelly Hotel. It smelled as though a troupe of large wet dogs had slept on the couch which was probably not too far from the truth.

The night ended without suffocation and we headed west towards Tofino and Ucluelet. A quick stop at the Goats on the Roof at Coombs to see the goats obviously but more importantly to get some cheese, cold meats, good bread, Tapenade, Hommus and some fresh fruit and salads to help fortify us for our travels.

Tofino and Ucluelet are located on the wild west coast of Vancouver Island and are well known for wildlife, whale watching, weather, walking, wild coastlines, wet forests and surfing. We were not there for surfing as we did not have full length thermal wet suits – the standard gear of choice for the dedicated BC surfer. We were there for everything else though and it was – again – a highlight of our trip.

Ucluelet Dock

We camped at Ucluelet with a nice view of the harbor and its small armada. The camp was visited through the day – and night - by a Mule Deer doe and its babes. Some birds were also about; most notably a decent flock of Townsends Warblers with a few Yellows keeping them company.

Tofino View

We decided on a Whale watching trip from Ucluelet with Jamie’s Whaling Station primarily for financial reasons despite the fact that both sea otters and Tufted Puffins were decidedly less common than they were around Tofino. At any rate neither the kids nor me had any reason to be disappointed about our choice. The trip was fantastic. First stop a large pod of Orcas – a transient group – their fins protruding proudly above the waves. They would submerge for a few minutes and then return. Usually the huge triangular fin of the male would signal their return before the loud exhale from their blowholes. A few Harbour Porpoises also gave some brief but excellent views; one individual in particular showed his entire body as it pierced through the side of a wave. 

Ready for Whaling

Would you believe 'Thar she blows'?

See? Sea Lions

Steller's Sealions

A single large Humpback was the next cetacean on offer and it delivered a characteristic tail fluke as a signal for our departure. Three – possibly four - Grey [Gray?] Whales slowly rolled through the waves closer to shore. The kids, despite the generous movement of the ocean, were delighted, especially Matthew who claimed he never thought that he would see a whale!

A few birds, Brandts Cormorant, Pigeon Guilemots, Rhino Auklets and Common Murres were seen as was a large group of Steller’s Sea Lions that languished on a rock platform. Two Californian Sea Lions swam across our bow as we returned to the harbor no doubt seeking easy meals from the trawlers.

Some useful advice from the Ucluelet Aquarium

Tom touching very cold water

Seastar

The theme of sea life continued as we visited the Ucluelet Aquarium, a very good little setup that displayed and interpreted local sea life in a variety of small aquariums and touch tanks. The creatures on display are apparently returned to the sea and replaced regularly such that they never get too angry about their loss of liberty and attack the hands that touch or feed them.

Long Beach

We took a few short walks along various sections of the Wild Pacific Trail and we walked wooden walk ways in sections of the Pacific Rim National Park’s Rainforest Trail. We walked also a little way along Tofino’s Long Beach. Long Beach is a little like beaches back home in that it has some sand. It also has, like much of the BC coastline, large chunks of timber such that many visitors spend time making teepees or similar or cages out of them. 

Smiling on th e rocks - clearly at the beginning of a walk

Pacific Trail View

One thing that we did not have in Tofino was weather, bad weather that is. It stayed agreeable warm and sunny for our entire visit. The nights were cool and sometimes foggy and, as a result, the fog horns sounded all night warning vessels away from the rocks while the still blinking lighthouses remained invisible. 

Another Pacific Trail View

Coastline near Ucluelet

One last highlight for the memory banks; Tacofino – an excellent little van selling big stuffed fish Burritos and, as their name sort of suggests, Tacos.             

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!!

August - the holiday begins again..

Shooting things the old slow way

After a few days r and r in Nakusp and we were allegedly ready for another crack at holidays. This time – west. And so it was after a relatively early start we drove west via Revelstoke and Highway 1 through Salmon Arm and Kamloops before a long overdue lunch stop in Hope. It was all we could hope for. Soon though we were beyond Hope. We headed further west for Langley and the Super 8 that was there in all of its indoor pool glory.

Summer was alive and well in Langley and the temperature hit a homesick helping high of thirty one bloody degrees.

Long valued in Canada - a woman with a weapon

We spent much of the day at Fort Langley, a site of some historic interest as it was here the colony of BC basically began. It was a great place, small but full of interesting details, activities and, during our visit at least a squad of characters, lounging around living traditional roles. I kid you not when I say that there are folks who travel around from Historic Site to Historic Site in character – say a gold panner or a weaver or a hunter etc – and camp there and set their old-day-style tent up and suit themselves in costume and surround themselves with props, artefacts or relicts or antiques or recreations of tools of the time. Now you can’t poke them and it is rude to tease them and call them losers but you can chat to them about their life [either real or fictional] and they’re happy to talk to the tourists. I won’t go so far as to call it cool however it was a great way to bring this history to life and I and the kids found it fascinating.

Fort Langley with the camping traveling players

Megan with ............a lady

Millie [with cloud] Tom [wearing a dress] and Matthew [with sun] involved in a little play production.

Traditional French dancing

The always pleasing sight of Women with brooms

Kids with dead animals

look closely for tourists not in character..............

dead animals dead animals dead animals

Some of the guys showed us traditional weapons; lock, stock and barrel, and fired them loudly. If they fire or rather don’t fire loudly there was just a flash in the pan – external gun powder failing to ignite the gun powder packed in under the bullet. I enjoyed playing an informal game of guess the dead thing when we visited the fur display in an antique fur warehouse and trading store. And the kids played  a few games in a more formal manner. Megan participated in a traditional French dance display while I manfully sat out and watched.

Kids cunningly panning for gold

The heat rather than the lack of interest eventually drove us to the air conditioned surrounds of a shopping centre where we bought some necessities and other things as you do before retreating to the beloved pool.

the three hour wait

The following day we endured a three hour wait for the ferry to Nanaimo before booking into another pooled hotel. Fish and chip dinner was enjoyed at the mural enhanced village of Chemainus and the kids had a little play at a water side park at Ladysmith.