View of Tofino dock from the water
Day Three, The Second Full Day
Up for breakfast at the crack of 8 a.m., to a light rain and mist, fishing and crab boats leaving the dock for the open sea, Meares Island in the distance. Cereal, grapefruit and orange slices, toasted English muffins, and hot coffee. Can life get any better? One thinks not.
Category Archives: Travel
Day Three: Corinne & Raymond’s West Coast Adventure
Day Two: Corinne & Raymond’s West Coast Adventure
Wherein Corinne Marvels at the Beauty of Florencia Bay
Florencia Bay, Raymond’s favourite place on the planet
Day Two: The First Full Day …
Up around 8 a.m. — where after a bath in the “hobbit tub” — we made ourselves a little breakfast, consisting of English muffins and fresh fruit. While eating our breakfast, we marvelled at the panorama outside our cabin window, as crab boats left the dock, float planes landed, and a working dock continued its days activities.
We left the cabin around 9 a.m., drove into town, spent awhile at the Common Loaf — an organics foods bakery of some salutary history — where we picked up a spelt flour muffin for a snack later in the day, and where back-to-the-lander “Lloyd” attempted to pick up the beauteous Corinne, only to be disappointed by my arrival back at the table. Oh well.
Day One, Part 2: Corinne & Raymond’s West Coast Adventure
Wherein Corinne Marvels at the Beauty of Long Beach
An overcast day on Long Beach, the longest stretch of unprotected beach in the western world
Day One, Part 2: The Details of the Actual Journey Over to Tofino …
Corinne and I are wrapping up Day One of our CirclePac Tour of Vancouver Island, and the Sunshine Coast. Pictured above is our first view of Long Beach (but more on that in a moment).
The journey over to Vancouver Island, on the BC Ferries, was calming, peaceful and wonderful. As there wasn’t too much blustery wind, walking around the upper, outside, deck proved not too hazardous, and a warm gulf breeze helped one to feel that summer is not too far off. Although the weather was a tad overcast, the sun snuck out from behind the clouds, on occasion, creating a sparkling carefree vista of the Island in the distance, mirrored to some extent by the waves which lapped up against the ship.
We arrived in Nanaimo, after our 1-hour and 45-minute ferry trip to Vancouver Island, around 10:15 a.m., stopped by the local BCAA where we picked up some additional maps and brochures, filled up the old Volvo with fuel (at 77 cents a litre, a darn site cheaper than one would pay in Vancouver), and once again we were on the road to Tofino.
Day One: Corinne & Raymond’s West Coast Adventure
The First Leg of the CirclePac Tour Begins
A map of the southern coastal region of British Columbia
Day One: Pending Arrival on the West Coast of Vancouver Island …
By the time you read this, Corinne and I will have begun the first leg of our journey on BC Ferries’ CirclePac Tour, a five-day adventure which will see us take in much of the west coast of Vancouver Island, and British Columbia’s magnificent Sunshine Coast.
Day One has us taking the ferry from West Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo’s Departure Bay (we’ll grab breakfast while onboard). After alighting from the ship, we’ll drive north to Parksville, and west past the Cathedral Forest (where, most probably, we’ll stop for awhile, to walk through the majestic old-growth forest). Once we reach Port Alberni, we’ll stop for a bit of lunch. Then, it’s back on the road, along Highway 4, all the way to Tofino, where we’ll unpack (we’re staying in a cabin overlooking Tofino harbour), and …
Corinne, you ask? The same Corinne who’s been recording her travels in Rio de Janeiro these past weeks? Yes, the very same one!
Corinne arrived safely back from the tropics — somewhat the worse for wear — and has spent the past few days recovering from Brazil’s daily 36° C temperatures, as she has set about to leisurely lounge about in sunny Vancouver (well, at least it’s been sunny for the past few days), the city resplendent with daffodils-in-bloom and cherry trees blossoming absolutely everywhere!
The days have been spent walking along the foreshore of Spanish Banks, through and around Pacific Spirit Provincial Park, and the University of British Columbia Endowment Lands; traipsing around Granville Island, munching on the goodies, visiting the Emily Carr School of Art, and listening to the buskers while enjoying the natural beauty of the inner harbour landscape; exploring the arboreal old-growth forest of Stanley Park; being a bother at the Pan Pacific hotel (although they didn’t seem to mind) and seeing the five sails up close, and … oh so much more.