Wednesday 11 May, 2005
Vancouver Island travel report
I meant to write about the Vancouver Island trip over the weekend but ended up doing something completely different. Now I can't put it off anymore before I forget the details, and Dragon is back in California so it's the perfect time. I will include lot of details because as total newbies to the area we had some difficulties in finding all this information, so if this report can help someone else, all the better. It might even inspire some of our future guests to take a similar trip it certainly comes highly recommended.
First of all, for those who're not familiar with British Columbia and it's geography, here's a map of Vancouver area so you get some kind of idea were we went. Vancouver is on the west coast of Canada, and west from Vancouver is Vancouver Island, a large island with lot of forest, mountains and other wilderness. The west coast of Vancouver Island boasts to be the "real West Coast" and it certainly has an entirely different feel to it.
On Tuesday we started from Vancouver when we took a bus to Horseshoe Bay where we got loaded into a ferry and travelled to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. In Nanaimo we rented a car and drove to the other side of the island to Ucluelet where we spent Wednesday. On Thursday we headed back to the east, stopping in Port Alberni and ended up in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. On Friday evening we took the bus from Victoria that drove us to Swartz Bay where we boarded a ferry to Tsawwassen, from where the bus took us back to Vancouver.
Getting there
But let's start from the beginning. We had decided to take the bus because that seemed to be the most common and the easiest way to Vancouver Island. We walked from home to the corner of West Georgia and Denman to catch the Greyhound bus they had told us in that we should buy the tickets in advance which we had done, but it looked like some people actually paid on the bus. The trip took us to Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver the trip had some magnificent scenery from the mountains, and only lasted about 20 minutes. At the Bay our bus drove pretty much directly into the ferry that was waiting for us, we boarded the ferry, left our belongings to the bus and hit the deck. While it was warm and nice while we were sitting there, when the ferry got moving it became quite windy so we went back inside. The ferry ride takes couple of hours so we had time to do some shopping, and reading brochures the ferry itself is used mainly to transport people so it has a lot of seats inside where people spend their time reading books, drinking coffee and chatting. The sailing was incredibly smooth, so although I had gotten very nervous and taken a pill to prevent seasickness, there was absolutely no reason.
When we approached Nanaimo we got back to the bus that drove us to its depot which was very handy as Budget, the car rental company we had chosen was right next to it. Our car had been upgraded to a SUV at first this seemed a bit of overkill for three people, but turned out that lot of extra room was actually very comfortable. I proved this by taking a nap on the back seat when leaving Nanaimo after eating a really tasty lunch in an Italian restaurant. I told my parents that they should wake me up if they saw something interesting this happened about midway to Ucluelet when we drove though the MacMillan Provincial Park.
The place is called Cathedral Grove, and I've never experienced anything like it before. It's an ancient forest the oldest trees are over 800 years old cedars. The forest was mostly destroyed in a forest fire about 300 years ago, so most big trees are around that age. The place is aptly named it is like stepping to a huge cathedral where ceiling is up somewhere really high. When I woke up in the car I was cranky and cold and didn't feel like going to see any stupid forest, but it all changed as soon as I was in. The earth is soft with moss and ferns, and the trees are massive and they too have been draped in moss that hangs over them like fairies had placed it there. It's surprising how much light there is those delightful sunny spots, and the green light coming trough the trees. I had the urge to touch everything, touch the trees, the moss, to make it more real I hope I can give you a glimpse of the magic of the place.
After we got back to the car and continued the journey over the mountains. The winding road was very small and kept having these "slow down" signs that irked my dad who was driving. We didn't slow down to a halt however and managed to get to the other side the weird thing that happened during the journey was that the weather changed totally. We started with a beautiful hot day, and on the other side of the mountains it was clouds all the way. There are two small towns on each side of Pacific Rim National Park the more popular (and expensive) Tofino, and the quieter (and cheaper) Ucluelet with a population of 1500 people or so. We had chosen Ucluelet and Ebbtide B&B, which was right on the tip of the Ucluelet peninsula.
You Finns, you know the feeling when you come to your summer cottage for the first time each year. You step out of the car, and total silence surrounds you and you have to just stop and be still for a while to take everything in. Well, that's how I felt when we arrived to Ebbtide we had a nice room directly overlooking the bay
but the stillness of everything. The sea was totally calm, and opposite it there was the matted gray cloudy sky and you couldn't hear anything else but some distant birds. I think this is one of the places that has stayed with me ever since my mind that returns there daily.
We chilled and unpacked for a moment, and then headed out to find something to eat. In a very small town like Ucluelet you can't be too picky there are few restaurants to start with, and even fewer are open in the evening, so we picked just the one that looked full (so popular). We picked a little cafι called Mountain Boy they had surprisingly big menu, although oysters and chowder where not available (my mom's two top choices) we all picked sandwiches. But they turned out to be huge (but good) so instead of a light meal we had planned we dutifully stuffed our faces to best of our capabilities my mom suggested that we should take the remains with us, but none of us wanted to eat them later either so we left it and headed back to the B&B. After the meal my dad headed out for a little walk, but I headed to a shower and the bed.
Ucluelet
First thing I remember of the morning was my mom whispering to me that it was raining and that we were going for a little walk before the breakfast, and me replying "are we now". My mom informed me that I didn't have to go which was good because it didn't sound very inviting so instead I had a slow waking and dressing up which suited me just fine (at this point my parents were still slightly suffering from the jet-lag so they tended to wake up quite early). The gourmet breakfast the B&B had advertised turned out to be a bit strange first half a grapefruit which was nice, but this was topped up with some lemon cake delicious lemon cake, I admit crepes with strawberry jam and a fried sausage. All nice in themselves, but together... and I won't even say anything about the nutritional values of the day's most important meal. It was clear to me at this point that I wasn't going to be able to maintain my diet on this trip so I just needed to get all the calories when they were available.
After the breakfast we headed back to town thinking that we would book a whale watching tour for the afternoon it wasn't raining anymore (and even when it did it was more like a mist), but it was still very cloudy and we were thinking that it would be nicer if it was sunny. But we were promptly told that the high fog offered actually the best possible conditions for whale watching no glare from the sun and visibility for miles. So we were talked over to taking the trip immediately the guide Lance had been recommended to us Rob, our B&B manager, as "a real naturalist and a nature lover". He was a jolly guy and obviously was very good as there was an older couple with us who had been with Lance three times previously. We dressed up in the handy orange flotation suits they were also windproof which was very convenient. We then marched to the harbour and got into the small inflatable zodiac boat there were about ten of us on the trip and we got to the front seats. Lance warned that ride got wildest in the front, but I had taken my nausea tablet and I wanted the good view.
We didn't get more than 100 meters from the harbour when we saw our first sea lions. Lance told us that they were Californian sea lion males squabbling over food or space (and making lot of noise while doing it kind of barking sound) and searching for an easy meal from fishing boats and they were also known to eat dogs that got too close.
When we got out to the open sea, we discovered a problem. The fog was not high as it had appeared from the shore it was actually very low and therefore visibility was extremely poor. Haunting, stunningly beautiful, but poor for whale watching. The problem was also that we were at the very end of the Gray whale migrating season and most of the whales had already passed there were still few around but the low fog was making the search quite a bit more difficult than Lance had expected. Many of the other whale watching companies offer a "guaranteed sighting" if no whales show up, they give a you another trip for free Lance didn't have this guarantee: he builds his tours around the nature around the area and takes people to see sea lions, otters, eagles and other animals and in his words "whales happen when they happen". This suited us very well for us this was it: if we didn't see whales today, we were leaving the next day and wouldn't be able to attend another trip anyway. So at least we would get to see something, if not whales.
After seeing some more Californian sea lions and failed to see any whales, we ventured to the Broken Group Islands which is a group of over 100 small rocky islands about 20 minutes from Ucluelet by boat. I keep saying this, and I hope it doesn't sound too clichιd but this place will stay with me (or is it that I left part of myself there?). The group is part of the park and access to the area is limited by permission the area really is as it has been for thousands of years. Untouched, rugged and the day we were they engulfed in think fog that didn't show anything until we got really close. It was breathtaking how the small islands would appear from the fog the high cliffs, the twisted sitka fir trees, pristine beaches full of driftwood. And nowhere could you see people or any signs of them the place is mostly populated by seabirds. These are ancient lands the first nation people had lived here for thousands of years before they were dispelled by the white man.
Here we also saw endangered Steller's sea lions very different to their American cousins. Californians gathered here in big groups of young males, while the Stellers' were in large family groups headed by a large male, the beach master. The Californians didn't care if we came close, as long as they got an advance warning that we were coming the Stellers' looked us suspiciously, making some baaing sounds, but when the beach master started making angry sounds, Lance took the warning and got us away immediately. The seals were very cautious too when we got close to them the most nervous ones jumped to the sea.
We were still hoping to see some whales and all the boats on the area were keeping the lookout for them. All other guide boats would let us know if they saw any as we would have if we saw them first and so would have the fishing boats. The radio kept silent for an hour or so, and then we got a message that a whale had surfaced and then disappeared - but hoping for the best Lance took us back to the sea. However we weren't lucky we continued searching for some time still, and didn't return until we were over an hour overdue. Lance said that in 98% of the cases his tours would encounter whales and was a bit shamed that it hadn't happened but we were not too disappointed, the trip had after all been a huge experience.
After we had escaped the flotation suits we were quite hungry. Fellow guests we encountered at the breakfast table at the B&B had recommended the Wickaninnish beach and the restaurant outside Ucluelet, so we decided to take the no-brainer and just go there. In the harbor and on the road the weather was wonderfully clear and sunny, but when we got back to the beach the fog swallowed us again. The beach was a sight in itself, and the restaurant was a mid price-range place with a limited menu we enjoyed the food though, and the view of the foggy beach was like from a dream. After checking out the little museum dedicated to local cultural history we headed back to the B&B to rest. Well, I had a proper nap it's possible that the exhaustion on both days had partly something to do with Gravol, the anti-nausea drug I was taking.
When I woke up later in the evening I was rested again and we decided to go for another walk in Wild Pacific Trail, the rainforest my parents had seen in the morning when I was sleeping. And what can I say but wow. Yet another totally mind-blowingly amazing place and a state to be. The forest itself wasn't as impressive as Cathedral Grove, it wasn't as old but it was totally different in character, being just on the edge of the sea. So maybe I should say it was impressive in another way while the trees in Cathedral Grove were huge cedars, here they were warped salt-resistant sitkas and small hemlocks totally different trees, totally different experience. And of course there was the sea and the sunset different sights and sounds and smells altogether.
East Coast of West Coast
Another morning at Ebbtide started with another gourmet breakfast. After the previous morning we were really unsure what to expect but we were hoping something relatively normal. No such luck this time was some fruit salad, some muffins and French toast: two slices of white bread, toasted with mascarpone cheese between them, and caramelised bananas on the top, served with hot maple syrup. Delightful treat in itself, but breakfast? Beggars can't be choosers we gulped it up expecting for another long day.
And long day it was. We started it buy going to see the world-famous Long Beach which surfers love my mom intended to go for a swim, but all the warning signs scared us off the idea ("Is it safe to swim here? NO!"). While leaving Ucluelet I was staring out of the car window thinking about taking a nap, when my gaze came upon an animal down on the beach. "A bear, a bear!" I started yelling and my dad put the breaks on. I couldn't believe my eyes until we turned back and walked on the side of the road to the spot where I'd seen it, but there it was: a real, wild, black bear. It was a bit unsure of us staring at it and kept rocking slowly back and forth but it didn't look distressed or angry (and this is mine and my mom's opinion, not shared by my dad!). Anyway we stared at it for maybe a minute or two before we respected it's wildness and left it alone.
There seems to be something tiring about crossing those mountains to get to the other side of the island, as I slept most of the journey again. We stopped at Port Alberni to have lunch in a local seafood restaurant where I and my mom had some clams and mussels. We headed for the highway there, hoping to come across a winery along the way to Victoria we had drank some wine from Vancouver Island on Sunday so the idea had born then to visit a winery while there. This was easier said than done though there were plenty of signs pointing to various wineries but after following several of those we never seemed to find any them. Finally we came to a crossroad where we had to decide if we wanted to go back and try one more time, or continue to Victoria and by a whim decided to give the hunt one more go.
This time the hunt was awarded with a real find on the other hand we happened to pick the only one of the orchards that didn't make wine, but cider but on the other hand it was a brilliant find as it's one of the only orchards in North America that's dedicated to growing apples only for making cider. The place was called Merridale Estate Cidery and the apple trees were in bloom and the day was absolutely gorgeous we took the self guided tour around the estate, found out all the different stages of making cider before continuing inside for a taster. And I have to say, without the tasting, I don't think we would have necessarily bought anything but with it we bought many different types forgetting totally that we would be leaving the car to Victoria and would have carry them all to the bus and back home. My favourite was a Winter Apple Cider, a deliciously sweet dessert wine with smooth and strong natural apple taste.
Rest of the journey to Victoria was eventless, and we found our hotel quite easily as it was on Douglas, the main road leading to Victoria city center. After the sweaty tiring journey we took the advantage of the hotel pool and jacuzzi but the water in the pool was so warm it didn't really have a refreshing effect... relaxing though. My dynamo-parents left the hotel to look around the city, but I was beat and stayed at the hotel room watching Smackdown.
Victoria
On Friday morning we had hopes of getting a proper breakfast only this time there was nothing wrong with the breakfast itself but the location. The breakfast at the hotel was served in the adjacent sports bar all the TVs on sports channels isn't really my ideal place for breakfast, even if the breakfast is Eggs Benedict.
Our plan was to get our stuff into storage at the bus station, get bus tickets to Vancouver, return the car and then have a wonder around the town. The plan went smoothly, and we wandered around the harbour seeing the most important land marks like the Parliament House and the Empress Hotel. This city is a total mix of North America and old fashioned England at places it's more English and England and on others it's most typical North American. Feel is very different to neighbouring Vancouver: in many ways there's much more history here, like in England but in other ways it's more superficial: there are lots of very visible tourists here, lot of loud, fat Americans and hordes of Koreans they must exist in Vancouver too, but there everyone just blends in.
On the last day the weather wasn't on our side and by early afternoon we were cold and tired enough to want to take an earlier bus than we previously thought. It was a relief to get to the bus it would be clear sailing from here on. It took about an hour for the bus to get to Swartz Bay where the familiar boarding to the ferry happened this time all we wanted was a nice place to sit down, so we grabbed good seats and had tea and coffee and cake while listening to a man who had been sitting in the bus next to us playing Irish bag pipes on the deck. Nothing significant about the trip sailing was smooth as ever again, bus trip to Vancouver effortless.
Final words
What comes to nature and three day trips I don't think I've ever experienced anything as spectacular as this little tour. If you're in the area and want to see something completely different, I can't recommend enough that you visit Vancouver Island.