Gallery: 2021 Island Trip - Alert Bay - Day 5

Gallery (45 images): 2021 Island Trip - Alert Bay - Day 5

Unfortunately the weather did not improve much and our day over at Alert Bay was pretty much overcast the whole time, with a smattering of drizzle occasionally too. We took the ferry from Port McNeill to went over to Alert Bay on Cormorant Island first, staying for maybe three to four hours, then caught the ferry back to Port McNeill, and stayed on to get to Sointula on Malcolm Island.

By that time it was evening, we were both hungry and as it turns out, absolutely nothing was open in Sointula anymore, save an ice-cream stand. It was also drizzling and the prospect of spending about three hours wandering around there, getting damp and hungry, didn't seem appealing. Emily and I looked at each other and decided to quickly walk back to the ferry before it left. We managed to get on and headed back to Port McNeill.

Alert Bay was very scenic though, with lots of colourful buildings, a great walk through the ecological preserve, as well as a visit to the interesting and educational U'mista Cultural Centre, where one wasn't allowed to take any photos however. Hopefully the next time we visit the area, the weather will be better! We'll also have a better idea how long it takes to explore and can optimize the timing of our visit...

Link to: All the blog posts from my 2021 Island Trip

Gallery: 2021 Island Trip - Telegraph Cove - Day 4

Gallery (35 images): 2021 Island Trip - Telegraph Cove - Day 4

The weather improved slightly the day after our three night stint in the ever so relaxing school bus, and after photographing the bus in detail in the morning (seen in my last gallery), it was off again, driving further north up the east side of Vancouver Island, first to the small historic community of Telegraph Cove, then further on to the town of Port McNeill. We stayed in Port McNeill for two nights and after a ferry ride, spent most of the next day over in Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, with a very brief stint to Sointula on Malcolm Island. That will be in my next gallery...

Telegraph Cove was wonderful visually, with brightly painted old buildings right at the seashore built upon pilings, weathered floating docks and lots of history. We didn't take any whale watching tours but spent some time with binoculars searching the ocean off in the distance for any signs of large sea mammals. Sadly, we only spotted boats, kayakers and birds...

Link to: All the blog posts from my 2021 Island Trip

Gallery: 2021 Island Trip - Days 1-4

Gallery (45 images): 2021 Island Trip - Days 1-4

After an aborted camping trip to the Fraser Canyon, right at the start of all the forest fires in BC (the town of Lytton was burning down the evening before we had planned to leave), our first trip of 2021 turned out to be to Vancouver Island. Back in February, we had arranged and booked a trip to the interior, to the Kootenays, but after the Lytton fire we thought the interior would be too risky due to the risk of forest fires, so decided to book an alternative trip to Vancouver Island. Good thing we did it when we did, since everywhere we wanted to stay still had accommodations, and the ferries were not yet fully booked either. Had we waited even a few weeks, we'd likely have had a very hard time...

These are shots taken during the first four days of the trip, a few near Nanaimo where we stayed one night, and the rest up the east coast of Vancouver Island, north of Campbell River by the town of Sayward. We stayed in a converted school bus parked in the forest, a whimsical and enjoyable accommodation to be stuck in during three days of rain. A bit more info on this place is in the gallery link above...

Link to: All the blog posts from my 2021 Island Trip