Gord's Road Trip: Day 14 - A Ferry, A Rain Forest and the Edge of the Continent

Since missing the bike lesson at Whistler we've decided to make more of an effort of getting up and going when we have somewhere to go, so with today's booked ferry departure we decided to pack up most things the night before. That meant that this morning was relatively painless - we took our perishables out of the fridge, put on our clothes for the day (warmer weather stuff, we were sailing today) and headed to get ice.

It was hard to leave our North Van home away from home, but the surf beckoned.

At the local Safeway we picked up some breakfast items and a few other camping essentials (soup, mainly) and made our way to Horseshoe Bay and the ferry to Nanimo. Traffic wasn't bad and we made our way to the ferry toll booth/check-in precisely at 9:05. Once we were confirmed and paid up, we found our spot in line - lane 3, as good and honest a lane as one could hope for. And then we waited.

30 minutes later we got the call that boarding would commence. It was all very well organized and confidence inspiring. By this time Gord was sound asleep. When we let him e is keeping pretty close to his nap schedule of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm - and he's even converted to Pacific Coast time, what a guy. Anyways, we followed our line of cars on to the ferry and quickly realized that there is little that a driver can do to mess this process up. We pulled in where we were told, got up snug to the car in front, put it in park and were done. As people streamed by on their way to the passenger decks (they have a cafeteria and gift shop aboard in case you can't got a few minutes without consuming) I got up to go - how foolish. Gord was still sleeping, and T was not going to wake him. This was not my instinct, but it was the right decision. Another 30 minutes and our little man was stirring, smiling and well rested - good decision Mom! At 10:05 promptly we could feel the boat begin to move and you could see the harbour begin to shrink.

Once on deck we changed everyone's bums (figuratively) and tried to find a spot to sit. After sitting in a few seats for a while, and after perusing the gift shop (we didn't go for any $4 chocolate bars) we decided to go up on the 'sun deck' to catch some rays. It was bright and sunny, but it was quite windy so we didn't know how long our little man would suffer his foolish parents. To our surprise, he LOVED the wind! Much more so, it turned out, than did his parents. The bow (front, yeah?) was by far his favourite and his squeals of delight made everyone in the vicinity smile as his whispy (and scant) bangs blew about.

Our little mariner loved the sea breeze.

This was his first time on any vessel and it went very well - must be a mariner in our genes somewhere. We walked all around the sun deck and found a nice spot at the stern (back?) out of the wind and quite pleasant. But it was all too late as we noticed land just up ahead. Almost right then our thoughts were confirmed and the captain informed us to make our way back to our vehicles. In a few minutes the Toyota Tacoma in front of us started up and we followed it out onto solid land, we had reached Vancouver Island, Nanimo to be specific. Gord wasn't napping, but we decided to just make a quick stop for gas and get on our way to Tofino.

Nanimo is only about 120 km from Nanimo, but it's the longest 120 km you'll ever drive. Not because it's boring, but because the road is so narrow and winding, and because it quite literally takes forever to traverse the steep curves as highway 4 snakes through the coastal mountains. The climbs and descents are nothing compared to what we'd already done, but they are constantly changing and it's a single lane only mitigated by an honour passing system that reminded me of old highway 69 back home in Ontari-ario. We even saw our first brown bear (at least I think it was a brown bear - he was dark, but he had the head shape of a brown bear) - and I was beginning to think the bear reputation of BC was all talk!

Hard to go forward when you're too busy going up and down and all around.

Needless to say, it doesn't take forever and a little after 2:00 we found our way to our campsite. The nice park staff who checked us in told us about the interpretive programs offered and about the 'bare campsite' program. Pacific Rim National Park is lucky enough to have MANY mammals call this piece of earth home, including 3 top tier predators - cougar, bear and wolf. The 'bare campsite' program is designed to keep campsites clean in hopes that these heavies won't be tempted to wander into camp, becoming problem animals and requiring the park staff to take action. We were well ahead of her, but it's nice to hear them taking it so seriously.

Before I go any further I need to tell you all what a special place this park is. From the moment we got out of the car we were pretty quiet - so powerful is the landscape. Huge trees block out most of the light in the camp site itself, and the moss hangs thick on the branches. It's a place full of life, and you can see it everywhere, hear it at every turn, and even breathe it in with every breath. The site was big with a huge dining room size picnic table and a softer tent pad in the corner. We had everything we could need to have a great few days. And we hadn't even gotten started yet.

By 2:30 our camp was set up and we decided to take a walk to the beach. Gord had missed his 1:00 nap in the car and we hoped he would go down if we walked with him in the carrier. What a good decision. A few campsites over was a trail that lead to another trail that lead to the beach, so we headed in. We were a few hundred feet from the beach, standing amidst massive trees, when we could hear the pounding surf. The beach is spectacular!

Gord was sound asleep so we covered him up and walked into the blowing wind. A long and gentle beach slopes slowly out towards the open Pacific and beyond to Japan, and the views are ridiculous. As we walked towards the water we decided that the wind was maybe too strong for us to stay out in it for too long. That's when we noticed the driftwood shelters dotting the shore. There is a strong surf culture in this part of the island, stronger than anywhere in Canada I would imagine, and one of the up shoots is a well appointed beach. We made our way towards one of these makeshift structures and reaped just how smart surfers are. Nestled in our hovel we were shielded by the worst of the wind but could still be warmed by the sun and sand, and we had a perfect view of the surf. What a day. We decided to stay in for the night - we had a gourmet meal planned and were interested in the interpretive program ('stories of the rainforest') offered that night - we'd explore the village of Tofino tomorrow.

And that 's what we did. We cooked up our fresh pasta and sauce from Granville (best camp meal I've ever had), headed to the program, caught a glimpse of the setting sun on our way back to the tent and headed inside. It was a full day, and it was a great one. How can we top it? Theresa is hoping that riding the waves will help. Time will tell!