Tuesday June 16th

4:30pm

After eating French Toast with strawberries and cream for breakfast, we had packed up and set off to Horseshoe bay where we got on the ferry to Nanaimo on Victoria Island. It only cost us $48 for the car and two people, which equates to around £25. Not bad for a boat trip of 1 hour 40. We actually forgot to go into the gift shop on the ferry – we were far too occupied with standing on the deck and taking photos of Vancouver as we left, and of the Island as we arrived.
It was a little chilly the front of the ferry, but just about bearable (for us anyway!). It was cloudy in the morning and the sun was breaking through as we approached the island. I went to get a hot chocolate. There is just something wonderful about being on a boat in the chilly sea breeze and drinking a hot chocolate on the deck. Even if it means missing the dolphins swim by...DAMMIT! Not bad chocolate either, I have to say. Not brilliant, but the best so far. I was hoping to see a whale perhaps, but before we knew it, it was time to get back into the car and get onto the Island.

Which we did, and the weather was still overcast but not raining. We had almost reached Port Alberni – our destination for a one night stop over – when we realised it was time to eat lunch. Breakfast must have filled me up yet again as I hadn’t nibbled all morning (Well, with the exception of the hot chocolate...). As we drove, Nanaimo seemed like a proper town although we didn’t stop there at all. Port Alberni seemed full of odds and ends, bits and bobs. Diverse in what if offered but also really quite random!

Anyway, we stopped off for lunch at Tim Hortons – our first stop here – and had a most delicious chicken salad sandwich!! It was yummy, I really enjoyed it. I had a donut (of course, its Tim Hortons! You can’t go there and NOT have a donut!!) and – dare I say it – terrible coffee!! Now, I have to say here that I only drink decaff coffee for health reasons, so I can’t say anything about Tim Hortons regular coffee. But given that people seem to rave on about it over here – I was surprised to taste SO much bitterness! I may as well have been sucking the coffee beans straight. Usually I have cream and ONE sugar in my coffee which was how it came. But I had to add a further one and a half sugars to drink a regular decaff coffee containing cream and two and a half sugars. Not good! I have to say that it was undoubtedly the WORST coffee I have ever had in my life!! And the best? Starbucks for sure ;o)

After lunch we realised we were pretty close to our next accommodation, the Somass Motel. As it was reasonably early (2:00pm) we thought we would go ahead with our plan of visiting “Choo-Kwa Canoe Tours” which was just down the road. I had printed information and directions from the website, and even though it had started to rain, it was fairly light and drizzly so we thought it would be fine. Now, I had tried to call the place to see if we had to reserve a place on a tour, but I kept getting a message that the number wasn’t in use.

No wonder – the place wasn’t there. At all. We drove to the T junction where there were some Native “welcoming sculptures”, turned left and immediately to our right. What was there? A small car park next to the river side boardwalk adjacent to a building which housed a large sculpture of “The Whaler’s Canoe”. Which was all very nice, but where on earth was Choo-Kwa Adventures?? I had printed my information on May 23rd this year and today was June 16th. I can’t recall reading anything else on the website regarding if it had gone out of business or if it was only available at certain times of the year. There was no trace of the place whatsoever. It was as if it had never existed at all – it was very odd, and very disappointing.

The rain began to fall a little heavier, as we headed to the Harbour Quay to see if there was anything else which might do something similar on the water. But all we found was a working dockyard and a small collection of cafe’s, deli’s and a couple of small restaurants. We had found a restaurant to try later on that evening and possibly the “Blue Dock Cafe” to have breakfast in the morning, but that was all.

We decided to have a little look at Sproat Lake Provincial Park, just because we could, and just because there were some petroglyphs there. Hardly anybody was there, but we parked and walked off to the petroglyphs and despite the “boardwalk” being QUITE unstable, we were able to see the glyphs quite clearly and we took photos which showed them up remarkably well! We strolled back to the car and thought we might as well check into the Motel. It was almost 4:00pm and we didn’t have anything left to do. We thought perhaps we should have booked in an extra night at our accommodation in Tofino and gone straight there right on the west coast, which would have given us an extra day there in effect.

So we had an idea – tomorrow we would leave very early and arrive at Tofino around 9 – 10am. Then we would have pretty much a full extra day there – we had the car which the luggage could stay in so it wasn’t a problem – we’d just check in at the normal time in Tofino. A great idea we thought. The drive was an estimated 90 minutes from Port Alberni.

So, we booked into the Somass Motel – our first and only Motel – and it was really very clean, comfortable, bright and spacious. We were pleasantly surprised with it! We hauled in our luggage but we had packed what we needed for a 1 night stay at the top of our bags for accessibility. We were still wondering about the Choo-Kwa Adventures. Had they gone bust? Had they moved? When we read the “Guest Directory” in the Motel room, Choo-Kwa was there, although it said they operated from June – September....and it was mid June now. Maybe they just appeared to set up the business when it was time? Still, we had to wonder, especially as British Columbia had been experiencing very VERY hot temperatures recently – until today actually, when it rained. Perhaps they meant late June – September?

We finished the evening off with a VERY nice meal at a fish restaurant called “The Water’s Edge”. Not a busy place at all this evening, but we ate by the sea yet again.