Vancouver Island, August 12–15

Martin Mars water tanker base, Sproat Lake, Port Alberni, BC

Martin Mars water bomber preparing for take off, Sproat Lake, Port Alberni, BC

Chinese cemetery, Harling Point, Oak Bay, BC

View over Harling Point to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Oak Bay, BC

View from Gonzales Hill over McNeill Bay, Oak Bay, BC

ON SUNDAY, Anna and I woke up to a fog-free morning. By 10 am the car was packed, we said our goodbyes to Elizabeth, Ryan and the kids, knowing that in a few days we would see them again. We would rejoin them at their house when we reached Victoria. Outside Port Alberni, Anna indulged me when I said quite suddenly, I would like to turn off the highway and visit the Air Tanker base on Sproat Lake. In my student years, I had put myself through school in the summers, by working in the BC Forest Service. In 1972, I was actually on a fire atop a knoll, above Sproat Lake, when the lumbering behemoth of a Martin Mars bomber, approached not much higher then eye level, through a screen of smoke. We all threw ourselves to the ground just before 27,000 litres of water mixed with Phos-Chek (fire redardant gel) rained down upon our wild fire.
Martin Mars - Coulson Flying Tankers - The World's Largest Flying Boats Ever Flown Operationally

The drive continued to Victoria where we stayed in a comfortable motel on Douglas Street and on "the Strip" leading into the city. I had made plans to meet someone from the distant past on Monday morning. Merry was a childhood friend, from my days on Wilmot Place in Oak Bay, near Victoria. She was a little younger then I, when I last saw her in January 1957 which was shortly before my 7th birthday. Anna and I met her on Fort Street in Victoria and we retired to a cozy little teashop. I was thrilled to see Merry again. Our conversation seemed very engaging, wide-ranging and full of warmth. Hopefully our next meeting will be in the not too distant future.

Finally, Anna and I rejoined our camping friends at their home. After supper we walked with them to Ross Bay. There we lingered on the pebble beach. When we weren't sitting and gazing across the Strait of Juan de Fuca at the Olympic Mountains we were throwing rocks at a floating piece of wood. The scene was bathed in gorgeous evening light.

For our last full day in Victoria, Elizabeth gave us a guest pass for the Royal Provincial Museum, to help us out with the admission. We mostly toured the history exhibits that traced BC's history from colonization through to the recent decades. The First Nation's exhibits also fascinated Anna and I.
http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Exhibit_Gall/default.aspx

In the afternoon we picked up groceries for the evening meal before joining the family for a walk to the Chinese cemetery and the "Secret Beach" as my friends called it. The neighbourhood was very rugged, with lots of exposed rock amongst pretty homes, and where patches of invasive Gorse and Scotch Broom (both brought by homesick settlers from the British Isles) competed with native species. We ascended the rocky flank of Gonzales Hill, skirting around homes and crossing the main road, before reaching the lookout on top. Finally got home tired and happy from our walk before enjoying a final evening of food, wine and conviviality.
Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point - Victoria BC

Got home today, on this August 15, after crossing on the ferry from Swartz Bay to the Mainland.

Vancouver Island, August 8–11

Anna at the campsite, Arrowvale Campground, Port Alberni

Canadian horse breed, Arrowvale Farm, Port Alberni

Andrea, a gardener at Arrowvale Farm Port Alberni

Chesterman Beach, south of Toni

Boardwalk to Schooner Cove, Pacific Rim National Park, south of Tofino

At Schooner Cove, Pacific Rim National Park, south of Tofino

Indian Paintbrush at Schooner Cove, Pacific Rim National Park, south of Tofino

At Schooner Cove, Pacific Rim National Park, south of Tofino

At Schooner Cove, Pacific Rim National Park, south of Tofino

Arriving Beaver floatplane, Tofino

Elizabeth, Isla, Ryan and Ewan at Clayoquot Retreat, Tofino

Anna with a rented boogie board and wet suit, at Cox Bay, near Tofino

Salmon on the fire, Long Beach Golf Course Campground

THE TRIP to Vancouver Island, began on Wednesday. By evening we set up our tent at the Arrowvale Campground, just outside Port Alberni. Our campsite was well situated between friendly neighbours. The campground was actually only one component of the property, owned by Bob and Ann Collins. For the most part this was a farm with goats, beef cattle, and where horses (plus a few Sicilian donkeys) are also bred. Anne Collins showed us her breed of horses called Canadians. In the stable she demonstrated how she could easily communicate with these large gentle creatures, getting them to step back, step sideways, etc, simply through touching them a certain way. In the vegetable garden, Andrea showed us around too and we selected some heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, kale and garlic to enhance our next couple of nights of camping.
Welcome to Arrowvale

We arrived in Ucluelet, on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, around noon. Loaded up on more provisions at the Co-op, before driving to the campsite, by the tiny airport and adjacent to Long Beach. Friends Elizabeth and Ryan had booked for all of us and we found our campsite, for the next three nights, situated next to theirs. Anna phoned Elizabeth and we joined them on Chesterman Beach, south of Tofino, after we set up our camp. In the late afternoon we caught up with them enjoying themselves on the sandy beach. Ryan was out surfing, the children Isla and Ewan had donned wetsuits, just like their Dad, and were playing at the water's edge. Late afternoon sunshine played off the waves and Frank Island appeared as a forested silhouette just off shore. That night we combined our cooking into one, which became the model for the following nights too.

Woke up Friday morning absolutely freezing. A cold clammy fog had engulfed the coast and it felt like it was hardly over 10ºC! Joined our friends next door for breakfast, before we left on our outing to Schooner Cove, within Pacific Rim National Park, and only just down the highway. For one kilometre we followed a boardwalk, up and down, across stream gullies and through dense rainforest. We finally emerged on the beach, to the muffled crashing of distant surf. The long sand stretches were bordered by rocks and forests. Here and there, heavily treed islets, just off the beach, were partly concealed by drifting fog. By early afternoon we could go no further, cut off by a rocky headland ahead. We returned to the car, finally emerging in bright sunshine, as we approached the parking lot.

On Saturday we had all had a pleasant morning in Tofino before going to Cox Bay. Elizabeth helped Anna to rent a wet suit and a boogie board. At the parking lot we joined up with a couple from Port Alberni named Jen and Ryan, who were friends of our friends. Once again we entered fog as we approached this serious looking surfing beach. I left Anna with the others to play in the waves and returned to Tofino to e-mail, read and buy groceries. That evening we at fresh sockeye salmon as well as little desserts of Bisquick and pie filling cooked in pie irons, also over the hot embers of the campfire. All this was accompanied by salads and washed down with lots of red wine.