In the last report, we had just crossed the little channel between Vesuvius and Crofton on the ferry.  The ride over was uneventful and we made it up Hwy 19 to Parksville with no problems.  The park was a fancy, luxury live aboard park with 335 slips.  Most were permanent residents that had built patios and screened porches onto their RV’s.  And then installed flower gardens and BBQ pits!  It had small lake inside the park and was right along the beach and had some great sunsets.  Hence the name – Surfside RV.   

We got hooked up and we immediately went to do laundry!  We had so much that we had to split it between two laundry rooms.  Yes, that was how big this place was!  But we needed to do it and  3 loads later we had clean laundy.

We finished by 4:00 and headed to the town of Coombs to visit the “The Old Country Market” and see the “Goats on the Roof”!  Several friends had told us about it.  We expected an old country store, but it was more of a gourmet market with food from all over the world, and local items like a meat counter, bakery goods, cheeses and fish.  There was also an area of home goods too.  We did buy a few food things that looked enticing.  And there were other stores associated with it, like a fresh produce market, an ice cream shop, and, of course, a souvenir store.  It’s well worth a visit if you are in the area.

And as we were leaving, we asked about the goats and were told that, yes – they were out on the roof.  Wandering out front of the main building toward the street, we saw that the roof was made of sod grass and had a small house for the goats.  Sure enough, two frisky goats (we discovered were brother and sister) were playing king of the hill and butting heads over who got in the house!  History says that the sod roof was a normal means of construction for the original Scandinavian owners of the store.  Years later and just before the city fair, the sod needed “mowing”, so they added some goats on the roof to do the job and entertain the tourists.  And they have been there since although they rotate new goats on the roof every year.

One of the reasons we stopped in Parksville was that we wanted to make a trip to the west coast of the island to see Tofino and Ucluelet.  These are another “must see” destinations on the island.  I had tried to find a park over there, but I discovered it was Canada Day (like the 4^th of July in the US) weekend and all were full.  So, Parksville was a good alternative.  The main highway north and south is Canada 19 and it intersects with BC Hwy 4 that goes across the island.  So that was the agenda for the next day. 

The drive across is about 100 miles.  You really don’t think that Vancouver Island is that wide.  But off we went to see the Pacific again.  The drive was actually very nice and easy.  We reached Tofino in about 2 hours.  Tofino is noted as being the most western populated town in British Columbia. 

(The real “most western town” in Canada is a very small town called Beaver Creek, Yukon.  On Hwy 1 at the Alaska border.  Just a FYI.)

Being Canada Day weekend, the town was crowded.  It is located at northern end of the Esowista Peninsula, and we drove to the end of Hwy 4 and as far as we could go to see the ocean.  There was nothing that indicated the end point, so we took some photos and went to get lunch!  

We drove back southeast on Hwy 4 to Ucluelet.  Between the two towns is the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve with many key points, beaches and trails to check out.  We stopped at both the Long Beach and Combers Beach turnouts and watched the surfers.  Then we pulled into the Rainforest Trail.  The trail really impressed us with a full boardwalk around the trail with huge western cedars and western hemlock trees!  The trail went down into the bog and moss-covered forest.  Very easy walk and things we had not seen!  Like lots of Skunk Cabbage.  Check out the photos.

Then into Ucluelet.  This is also a busy tourist spot on the Pacific Ocean and located at the other end of the road on Ucluelet Peninsula.  It is particularly famous for the Wild Pacific Hiking Trail and Amphitrite Point Lighthouse.  Yes, another lighthouse.  We checked out both of them and then, getting late, we headed back across the island.  It had been a long day but good exploring and stunning views of some famous parts of the island.

The next day was July 1.  CANADA DAY!  Although we were told there would be no fireworks. 

We had some good news in that we had cleared the waitlist on two ferries for the upcoming crossing from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert, BC.  We picked one and cancelled the other.  We had made contingency plans that now had to be changed, cancelled, and/or confirmed.  But it made the next part of the island visit complete.  So, we got on the phone and quickly got everything changed.  That really made us a lot more comfortable to go on!

We spent the rest of the day tourist-ing and exploring near the Parkville area.  The first stop was to Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park.  Yes, another falls.  Actually 2 falls, an upper and a lower.  The park was big with many side trails and not a lot of directions.  But the falls were very dramatic and worth the hike.  I was particularly intrigued by two short pieces of log that were caught in a small portion of the falls and, with the current flow, could not go further and just kept going around in circles. 

Next, we stopped at Cameron Lake and had a small charcuterie snack and enjoyed the view.  On to MacMIllan Park and the Cathedral Woods trail but there were cars parked all along the road and, being the holiday, we decided to avoid the crowds and head back to The Boat.

The RV park was sponsoring a cookout and entertainment that evening for the holiday.  We grabbed our chairs and went to the big pavilion on the beach with a lot of the other tenants.  Burgers and hot dogs!  And good music that was of an era we (and many of the others in the crowd) knew a lot of the words to!  All-in-all, a good day and good for Canada!

Back on the road again on Hwy 19 north along the straits the next morning.  We were headed to Telegraph Cove and our next adventure.  The drive is about 200 miles up the island and we discovered there were very few turnouts or viewpoints.  So, we pretty much drove straight through with mist and fog and made it there in about 5 hours.  Yep, 200 miles in 5 hours is not going very fast.  At least the road was good and scenery was nice. 

We made it to the Telegraph Cover RV Park.  Found our spot and got hooked up.  The next stop was to find the At the Waters Edge office.  We had booked a kayak day trip for the next day and wanted to verify our reservation and see what the plan was for the morning. This was something new for us and we wanted to be ready.  One of the guides, David, explained the schedule and what we need to bring.  He gave us a couple of dry bags to pack in and said to be back by 8:30 am.

We were excited about the challenge and the prospect of seeing some wildlife.  Maybe some whales.  Probably no Orcas (a little too early for the resident Orcas).  The plan was to take a motor “water taxi” across the Johnstone Strait, past Hanson Island, across Blackfish Sound, to Swanson Island and to be dropped off with kayaks and a guide for the day.  Then get picked up at some other point in the afternoon for the trip back.   These kayaks were two seats, sit in, ocean kayaks with storage compartments in between.  Never done one of these but we were game.

Up early and back at the office.  Signed our “won’t sue you if we get attacked by a whale” waiver.  Put on our waterproof pants and jackets, our very tight PFD’s, and our very tight kayak spray skirts. We met our guide, Zoe, who gave us the agenda and training about the kayaks.  And we took off with our taxi driver, Gee, and Zoe across the strait.  We had packed for and expected some rain.  While the weather was cool, we lucked out and even had the sun come out a few times during the day.  No rain!

At Swanson Island, the fun started.  Just getting into the kayaks was interesting.  We wore our old beach shoes to walk out into the water (Cold!) and worked our way somehow into the kayak, sat down and wrapped the spray skirt in place.  Being the first time, Zoe helped a lot and Gail and I got strapped in for the trip.  Zoe handed us our paddles and we were off. 

We slowly made our way along the beach of Swanson Island hoping to see some evidence of a whale or two but nothing.  Since it was just us and Zoe, we were able to go at our own pace.  Zoe  described the flora and fauna along way.  After about 2 hours, we stopped at Flower Island for a lunch break. To our surprise, we saw several sea lions playing very close by and a couple of whale spouts in the distance.  A quick lunch, some hot beverages and use of the new head, and we somehow got back into the kayak without falling!  Again, thanks to Zoe!

We kayaked for a few more hours around the islands.  At Mound Island, we saw a Shell Midden for the first time.  This is a huge mound of shells that were the result of years and years of the native population cleaning shellfish.  We also saw manmade clam beds where the people took huge rocks out and made an artificial reef to allow the clams to be cultivated and harvested.  Very interesting history. And did we mention the eagles. There were too many to count!

We had paddled about 8 miles when we pulled into a small cove where Gee met us with the boat.  He was taking us back when we saw more spouts!  He stopped and we had a chance to see several (maybe 2-4) humpback whale’s spouts, backs and tails as they casually moved along.  We weren’t close but could still see them clearly. (Look closely and you can see a whales tail).  G said they like this spot because the tidal currents merge there between the islands.  And sure enough, because of the currents, there was a natural whirlpool that he placed the boat in the middle of and we spun around magically!  Pretty cool.  Whales and the whirlpool.

We made the way back to the office and got undressed.  And warmed our feet!  We had done it.  Our first ocean kayaking adventure!!

Our next stop was in Port Hardy to catch the ferry!  Yea!  You are invited to come along too!