July 13, 2009

Day 43. Monday.
I woke up in the night and had a hard time getting back to sleep. I always wake up in the night but usually fall right back asleep. I think my mind is starting to realize I have to head home soon, back to reality. When I did finally get up it was a overcast but no rain was forecast so I continued with my plans to ride Denman and Hornby Islands. Just before we boarded the ferry to Denman Island a couple on a Harley Softail rode up. They were on their way from Victoria to visit friends on Hornby Island. We chatted briefly and it was time to board. We both rode straight across Denman to the Hornby ferry. It was'nt long before that ferry arrived and carried us to Hornby Island. I stopped at the Pub for some lunch before crossing the island. There is'nt a great view from the road due to the trees along the coast. While Tribune Bay was my intended destination I ended up on another road and found Whaling Station Bay. The tide was fairly low and the sand beach reached out for about 200 feet. The water was crystal clear and other than a ring of kelp and a few critters the sand was clean. I wondered around intrigued by the waves in the sand and the few critters I found. First I found some sand dollars then a couple hermit crab. There were at least half a dozen jelly fish stuck or dead in the wet sand. A few 20 somethings were digging oysters. I asked how they knew where to did and they admitted they did'nt. They were just digging randomly but they were getting a few. When I got back on the bike I was going to try to find Tribune Bay because I was told it had a beautiful big beach but the clock said 15.00 and I knew Bob wanted to go out for dinner tonight. Two hours would be lots of time to cover 50 kilometers but when it involves waiting on two different ferries I knew I needed to give myself plenty of time. I headed back to the dock where I spotted a family playing with their young golden retriever. He was tossing a stick into the ocean from the boat ramp and like all retrievers the dog was happy to go swim for it. As the ship got close to the dock they returned to their car right behind me. I said I had taken a picture of the dog swimming and asked if I could take a closeup of him. They gave me permission and commented on the Ontario plate asking where I was from. He said he knew where Mississauga was because he grew up in Kitchener. "Me too" I said. "What high school do you go to?" he asked. I told him and he said he went to the same one. Turns out he was a year ahead of me but neither of us recognized each others name. That's one for the 'small world' file. When boarding the Captain, who comes down from the wheel house t oversee loading and unloading, looked at me and said "with that short trip you did'nt see everything. You're going to have to come back". I laughed and pulled to the front of the ship. When it was time to get off he came back down and before waving me off said "you're coming back right?" "Maybe someday" I said. That seemed to satisfy him because he waved me off.
I arrived back at the house about 17:15 and found Bob mowing the lawn which gave me a few minutes to get my pictures off the camera. He wanted to take me to Locals which serves local foods but being Monday they were closed. He headed down the road to a spot we were at for lunch one day not knowing if it would be open or not when he spotted a place called Liquids. "Oh, they have good food" he said so a quick turn around the block and we were there. WOW! And I'm not just talking about the hostess. This was the best meal of the trip so far. A fresh greens salad with raspberry vinegarette dressing and a bacon wrapped fillet that was perfect.

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