We caught the ferry to Vancouver Island, and chugged into the harbor at Victoria. Amazingly clean and pretty city - flower baskets hanging from the lampposts, lots of historical buildings, etc. We checked into our teeny tiny hostel room and wandered around the area a bit, finding some really good late night pizza. Next morning headed over to pick our friend Chloe up from the ferry. We found her easily, and once we’d figured out that the defunct-looking baggage claim was indeed defunct, we were off to explore the island! It was rainy, story of our lives for the next few days, but we persevered and decided to check out the famed Butchart Gardens. They were quite impressive, despite the steep entrance fee, crowds, and Disney-like feel. But seemed a necessary tourist stop on the island. We spent a couple hours, and decided you can only take in so many flowers at a time. From there we drove up the coast, looking to find a lunch spot. Despite one roadblock that slowed us down, we ended up in a very cute little town on the water, with a delicious fish ‘n chips place (on the advice of Frommer’s, which was a
helpful guide all week). Continued on to our campground at Miracle Beach. It was still rainy, and our campsite was teeming with slugs. We cooked and checked out the beach, but called it an early night after the long day of travel and crappy weather. Next morning we drove up to Telegraph Cove for a whale watching trip. More rain, but the town was adorable, with historic buildings complete with mossy roofs along a boardwalk. Had super luck on the boat, as we picked up an Orca pod only a few minutes out of the cove and got to hear some incredible vocalizations when our boat dropped a hydrophone into the water. We followed Orcas for the better part of an hour and the pod began traveling really fast towards a protected area where they really enjoying rubbing themselves against the smooth rocks and pebbles at a river inlet…..we’d seen footage of this on a nature show before. Apparently it’s quite a form of whale masturbation. Boats aren’t allowed at the site, so we headed in another direction and soon found humpbacks! We spotted Houdini, a female that was rearing her third whale baby in three years…..a remarkable old girl,
especially considering whale gestation is 12 months! We watched them diving over and over again, and at one point had both Orcas and humpbacks within hundreds of meters of each other. The naturalist on the boat exclaimed that she wasn’t going to let us leave the boat because we were so lucky. Lauren insisted the good luck was entirely her own, as she is a self-professed “whale-spotter extraordinaire.” We also saw some rhino auklets and a couple of bald eagles, one perched near its massive nest.
Drove back to Miracle beach (in the rain) and cooked a tasty Mexican meal under the canopy near the beach. Decided we’d head for the western side of the island in the morning, and had another early night. We headed towards Tofino and the heralded beaches of Pacific Rim National Park. Skies were overcast and drizzly, but still a nice drive. Stopped in Coombs to admire the huge tourist stop that was Goats-on-the-Roof….a big general store with a sod roof and 5-6 goats atop it. Pretty neat. Everybody likes to admire a little goat ass now and then. Lauren and Chloe were going to score some “fresh Pacific salmon” from a roadside vendor,
but when asked when it was caught, the gruff salesman’s response was “quite a while ago…you can tell by the crust on them.” We decided to try our luck elsewhere. We made it to the campground thinking we’d have to hike back to one of the “walk-in sites” (per the man at the visitor’s center) but lucked out as someone had recently cancelled, allowing us to pull right into a sweet site near the ocean bluff. We checked out Tofino the next morning and then moved our tent to a different campsite (thank goodness for cancellations). The sun finally emerged after a week of hiding and it turned into a beautiful day. We assaulted the beach and walked many miles south towards Florencia Bay…which was a boardwalked trail to a scenic bay, where we promptly took beach naps. Decided we best hike the couple hours back to our beach to beat the oncoming tide. The beach river we forded on the way had doubled in depth with the tide by the time we got back, and was nearly to Lauren’s waist (she being the shortest). The second attempt to find some fresh fish in Tofino was also unsuccessful (store closed),
so we settled on a couple of pizzas and enjoyed a late night around the campfire, complete with s’mores. Tried to ignore the lurking presence of the demonic little girl making farting noises on the periphery of our campsite. Packed up and headed towards Victoria and the hotel that awaited us. Showers were a welcome treat. We hit the town to find some dinner and passed a prostitute along the way (Canada, you whore!). Three salmon dinners and ice cream cones later, we walked around the waterfront, which was immaculate. Watched a little tv back at the “crib”, including both Harry and the Hendersons and The Outsiders, before crashing.
Caught the ferry to Vancouver in the morning and dropped Chloe off a good 3 hours early at the airport. She did not mind, as we had all bought copies of Harry Potter 7 and were eager to dive in. Lauren and I found some (surprise) Indian food in the Punjabi district (glorious) and then met up with Brooke Keeney at the University for some beers. Brooke was in town for a neuro-ethology conference, or some similarly esoteric-sounding thing. She told us all about her crazy adventures in Vancouver, including
the sketchiest hostel in the province, as well as about her studies in Riverside, which consists of putting up with some real douchebags, it would appear. She seems to be thriving in spite of them, and it was great to catch up with her. She has a cat named Tarantula, so named because it is often “scuttily”. After fighting the traffic and poorly named roads of Vancouver for nearly an hour (with the gas light on, no less), we finally emerged north of the city and drove up through Squamish and Whistler to a provincial park. The next 3 days are easily summed up as reading Harry Potter aloud, doing a great day hike up Joffre Lakes, and spending time in a café in Pemberton. Harry Potter was good. We then headed towards Green Lake provincial park and nabbed the last available campsite. Put the kayaks on the water the next day, but Shane’s trip was cut short by the fact that his inflatable boat was slowly losing air in a couple of places, as he had improperly closed the valves. His vessel became increasingly difficult to paddle and he even handed over the drybag with the camera over to
Lauren in case he should sink. He paddled like hell back to the beach and made it in one piece. It’s amazing how difficult it was to paddle with the boat at half its air capacity….glad he wasn’t a mile offshore. Lauren officially takes credit for sinking his battleship. Spent a night at a dive of a hotel in Valemount the next day, where we paid for our hotel room at the bar! Sweet! Some great really old local guys hanging out down there. Turned out to be a really quiet place and the room was surprisingly nice. Off to Jasper tomorrow!
Canada's Flag
Map of Canada