Sleepy-eyed from the late night and early morning on the ferry, we anxiously awaited our turn to pull off the boat and drive onto Vancouver Island. Our first campsite was in Telegraph Cove, an hour’s drive from the ferry terminal in Port Hardy. The Island Highway was smooth and wide, but we had to wind along a coastal route to reach the Cove. It wasn’t too bad, given the roads we’d become accustomed to in Yukon and Northern BC.
We arrived at Telegraph Cove well before the posted check-in time. No problem. The campground was fairly empty so we had our pick of spots. We got one with a view of the marina. Telegraph Cove, once was home to a telegraph station used by fishermen, loggers, and pioneers to stay in touch with civilization. As the area grew to include a cannery, many of the buildings were constructed on stilts and joined by boardwalks. A number of these buildings remain intact, re-purposed for tourism, and designated as heritage buildings. We all fell in love with the quaint, boardwalk town. We watched tour and fishing boats come and go and explored the forest trails, searching for ripe berries. We even spotted jelly fish, sea stars, and curious fish in an amongst the harbour docks.
That first day was a glorious, sunny, 22 degree day and we relished the warmth! We had been in cool, wet weather for nearly two weeks and we finally got to roll out, air out, and dry out our stuff.
On our second day, I had pre-booked a grizzly bear excursion with Tide Rip and had an early morning (6:30) departure. We were given a morning coffee, a packed lunch, and a safety briefing on the dock as the sun came up. Then we climbed into a comfortably snug boat to start our 2 hour journey along Knight Inlet to Glendale Cove. The water was glassy smooth and there was a light fog. It was early September and still a bit too early for the spawning salmon to be in their grounds at the cove so our tour guide spent extra time along the shores looking for any bears feasting on intertidal food such as muscles and other invertebrates. Bella was our first sighting. She was flipping rocks along the shore. As she was used to seeing occasional tour boats, we were able to get the boat fairly close to shore. It was really fascinating watching her flip stones over in each of things to eat. Some were the size of barrels! She would use one from paw to get the rock up, then her snout to hold it or shove it, all while getting a better grip with her paw to then push it over or out of the way. Then she’d dive into the food she’d uncovered. Amazing.
Bella is also famous. She was one of the bears used in the filming of Disney Nature’s movie Bears. Our family watched the film on Disney+ while self-isolating in Whitehorse so I was excited to share with the kids that I had seen Sky from Bears.
We made our way to Glendale Cove without another sighting. Our tour guides agreed that it was too early for the bears to be in the cove as the salmon likely hadn’t arrived so we ventured back out for more coastal sightings. We really lucked out. We saw one of Bella’s daughters, now 5 years old, foraging. Then we met a female with her two male cubs. Finally we saw another young female filling her belly. All the ladies had their winter coats and looked so impressively fuzzy. They weren’t yet at hibernation weight but were huge all the same. Our tour ended by 3:00 and I was met at the dock by my three bear cubs and ice cream-covered faces. A great day!
The bear cubs had spent their afternoon visiting the Whale Interpretive Centre at the end of the pier. They had much to tell me about the centre including the super fun puzzle where they had to reconstruct a whale’s skeleton. As Johnstone Strait is home to many Orca whales, this interpretive centre helps bring knowledge and awareness to its visitors about these majestic animals and the importance they play on the ecosystem. It’s definitely worth a visit!
Our next destination was just outside of Courtney and was a 3 hour drive through extremely beautiful, mountainous terrain. I had no idea the Island was so hilly. Our campsite backed right out onto the Strait of Georgia. We had two sunny, warm days on the coast. The beach was very rocky and the water was cold, but we were able to make forts, build a pretend restaurant, and serve bull kelp meals. My favourite part about the site was how we could hear the spouting of whales. It became a game. You’d hear the spout and it would be too late to see the whale since the speed of sound is slower than the speed of light. But we knew there would be another spouting so it was a game to see who could spot the whale first. Usually we’d see the spout of water itself, then the grey hump of the whale, followed by the sound of the spout once the whale was out of sight. We saw many seals as well hanging out close to the shore. So cool.
We spent an afternoon at the Airforce beach in Comox – soft sand, great swimming, and a view of the Comox air base. I saw the new Area Surveillance Radar, the installation of which had been one of my projects before I had Simon. It was nostalgic to see it in person. I recall that the Comox tower was scheduled to start construction as I headed off on mat leave. And here it was up and operating. I had to take a selfie.
We had one night between bookings that needed to be filled so we found a place in Qualicum, nestled in a cedar forest with a great river beach for playing and swimming. The campground also had an awesome play structure and an arcade. We had no trouble filling our time for those 20 hrs!
Admittedly, the main attraction of our island excursion was our two-week booking in Tofino. Both Erik and I had heard many great things about Tofino but neither of us had been. We found a campground with beach access and private sites. It was a tight squeeze, one of our tighter spots, into our rainforest site. But once set in place, it was perfect for a two-week stay. The beach was amazing. The tides were fun to track and we found awesome treasures during low tides. The facilities were excellent (modern showers, Starbucks coffee bar) and their playground was a huge success with something for every age.
Two weeks went by quickly, maybe too quickly. We tried to use the stable location to start focusing on homeschooling and establishing a routine (more on that failure later). We used the beach often, and the playground, and tried to do something new every other day. Here are some of the activities we undertook:
Pacific Rim National Reserve - We took advantage of the forest cover and did some old growth forest walks on the grey and rainy days. The forest trails are incredible! The layers of trees and growth is hard to comprehend and we tried to capture the scene with only moderate success;
Ucluelet Aquarium – this is a non-profit, catch-and-release facility that uses local water and animals to showcase the biodiversity of the region. Normally, guests are welcome to touch the animals in the tanks. During COVID however, we were only able to observe. We saw so many creatures we’d never even heard of. It was a great visit (and the town is super cute too);
Watching surfers on Long Beach – we hit this beach twice; once on a lovely day when the surf was good, and once on a storm watch when it was wildly windy and really rough;
Big Trees Trail – a short water taxi ride away is a trail on Meares Island which boasts the largest known red cedar. We meandered along a rough plank trail, explored the insides of some hallowed trees, and saw several large cedars that were worthy of our admiration;
Beach combing – we checked out a few beaches and found one with a wedding taking place, and a cool cave. The kids were brave enough to go into the cave and squeeze out an opening onto the beach. I wasn’t at all brave enough. They enjoyed it so much, we’re going to look for other caving adventures; and
Tofino itself – awesome play structure with a zip-line in the heart of the town. Great tacos. Nice stores. Laid-back vibe.
For Erik’s 40th, we booked an inshore fishing trip where we hoped to catch some fish, see some marine life, and experience being out on the ocean. It wasn’t a cheap experience, but we figured that the cost would be compensated with the fish that we caught as we were allowed to keep up to a certain number of each type of fish (all based on the BC fishing licences we had to get). The day was perfect. The sea was calm and the sun was out. We had chosen to book an afternoon excursion thinking it would be the best option for the kids. We knew this came with a risk that the fish would be less interested in our lines. First, we decided to try halibut and went about 20 mins away from the shore to a rocky bottom area. Our guide set the lines with octopus tentacles marinated in halibut-loving sauce and weighted them down on the ocean floor. The rocking of the boat lifted and dropped the weights causing vibrations which, apparently, attract the halibut. About an hour into this posture, the kids were all half asleep (from the gravol we’d given them for sea sickness) and we hadn’t even had a nibble. We stuck it out for another hour and only got two nibbles. No halibut for us.
We then moved to a bay known for grey whales and saw some amazing breaches of two whales. Erik launched the drone to see if he could get a shot from the air and was surprised by a closer breach from another grey whale. We got a great video! We also saw a sea otter laying on his back enjoying the sunshine. It was a trip highlight!
Our next attempt at fishing was to troll along a weedy area for salmon. We had some trouble keeping the weeds off of the down-riggers but gave it a good effort before calling it a day. No bites, no nibbles, no salmon. Boo.
Although we had to have pizza for dinner instead of fresh ocean meat, our experience was still a very positive one with a calm ocean, some whales and otters, and a chance to make up jokes and tell funny tales while spending time together. Happy 40th Erik! May the forties be with you!
During our stay, we were also privilege to have a few clear nights where we could see a bright and starry sky. Claire found a shape in the sky that reminded her of a dog sitting for a treat with his nose in the air. She decided to name that shape Fido. It’s her special constellation. Most evenings, when it wasn’t raining, there would be a dozen or more groups of campers having fires on the beach. We didn’t ourselves indulge, mostly for lack of wood to burn, but it made for a lovely ambiance during evening beach walks. Tofino will be remembered as one of our favourite spots this trip.
It was time to depart the island. We had one final night in Nanaimo with a site overlooking the Strait and then were up an on the ferry the next day. It was a no-fuss trip over to Vancouver and we had a great campground waiting for us within the city limits. Thank you, Vancouver Island, for all the natural wonders and the fun stay!