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| Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver |
Horseshoe Bay was the West Coast ferry terminus for BC Ferries where we would go to board the Queen of Oak Bay for Departure Bay in Nanaimo. As it was Sunday we thought it would be busy but there were not a lot of traffic when we paid our $115 and pulled in line behind other campers and oversize vehicles. It was an hour wait so I walked down to the tiny village of Horseshoe Bay and looked around. It is from here the Sea to Sky Highway begins, winding along the cliffs of Howe Sound to Squamish where I used to work as a teenager a lifetime ago. A sign down by the wharf informed me Horseshoe Bay was once called Chaxay by the Squamish people. They used the bay as a camping spot for shelter from the north winds as they made their way up the coast. Ferry service began here in the 1920s. When it was time to return to board our modern ferry the waiting lines were full and I was glad we arrived when we had.
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| approaching Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC |
Bruce and Kirsten met us at the local Tim Hortons once we arrived in Nanaimo and we followed them to their home in the Resort on the Lake community park, nestled in the woods alongside beautiful Westwood Lake. Bruce looked very good after his heart surgery earlier this year and his lovely wife Kirsten had dedicated herself to looking after him. They were happy in their trailer but had it up for sale and were hoping to move to Gold River, formerly a thriving pulp and paper town in the centre of the island that sits among picturesque mountains, lakes, rivers and forests. I think the perfect place for them both!
That evening we drove a few miles north to Coombs for dinner. First though we had to visit the town's Old Market, complete with a herd of goats on the grassed roof. The market sold everything imaginable and we could have browsed in it for hours but Bruce was eager to treat us to a delicious dinner at the Cuckoo, an Italian trattoria and pizza restaurant located next door. We filled ourselves up on salad, pasta platters and pizza and spent a wonderful two hours reminiscing of old times in the navy and life's events that have since passed by.
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| Bruce, Marie and Kirsten, Coombs, BC |
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| those are real goats on the roof! |
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| taking the man who taught me how to drive a standard shift for a ride |
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| outside the Cuckoo restaurant, Coombs, BC |
The next day was overcast with a bit of rain when Bruce showed us around the park. We all walked down to Westwood Lake and chatted to a few fishermen but they weren't having any luck. Funny, I always thought the best time to fish was in the rain. After lunch we spent two hours at the very impressive Vancouver Island Military Museum across the street from Nanaimo's Boat Basin. The museum was opened in 1986 to display and interpret Canada's military history and cultural heritage and for such a small building it was amazing how well they had accomplished this. The displays, well laid out and very detailed, included collections and tributes to the RCN, Canadian Army, RCAF, the Merchant Navy, the Red Cross, Korea, the Secret War (the spy training school Camp X, secret agents and the SOE), Afghanistan, Aboriginal Veterans, the RCMP and our Peacekeepers. The two ex-military volunteers were very helpful and eager to answer our questions. I would think anyone in the area visiting will be sorry if they didn't take the opportunity to visit this wonderful museum.
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| at Bruce and Kirsten's, Nanaimo, BC |
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| Ben, Kirsten, me and Bruce, Westwood lake, Nanaimo |
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| Vancouver Island Military Museum, Nanaimo, BC |
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| supper with Bruce and Kirsten |
Our last full day with Bruce and Kirsten the weather improved and we decided to do some more exploring in the local area, driving first out to the Little Qualicum Cheeseworks and Mooberry Winery in Parksville. We tasted half a dozen different samples of their world-class cheeses and award-winning wines (so they said), all made at the farm. We purchased a couple of bottles of their fruit wines, including a gooseberry wine that was my choice as the best of the six we tasted, petted the farm animals and then headed out to MacMillan Provincial Park 25 km up the road near Port Alberni. The park is home to a famous stand of ancient Douglas Fir, known as Cathedral Grove. It was this park that Bruce wanted to show us and we were amazed at one fir tree that was more than 800 years old ( it was already over 300 years old when Christopher Columbus came to America), 250 feet high and almost 30 feet in circumference - The Big Tree. We wandered along the muddy trails with a few other tourists among stands of old-growth trees including western red cedar, big leaf maple and western hemlock. The big Douglas Firs are the survivors of a forest fire that ravaged the area about 350 years ago and some of the scars could still be seen. I thought back as I walking about here how the lumber companies ravaged the old growth forests of Haida Gwaii back in the 70s while I lived there. I was glad people can still get a sense of the magnificent heritage and irreplaceable biodiversity here that has been so ruthlessly ransacked just for commercial profit all over this province with no concern for future generations.
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| real fruit of the vine from Mooberry Winery, Qualicum Beach, BC |
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| Cathedral Grove, MacMillan Provincial Park, BC |
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| The Big Tree |
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| Resort on the Lake RV Community, Nanaimo, BC |
Before we said our goodbyes we left Bruce and Kirsten a few gifts, one being a painting I did of the deliberate destruction of the Golden Spruce in Haida Gwaii (known then as the Queen Charlotte Islands) back in 1997 depicting how I felt at the time of its death - the tears of the Raven and Killer Whale representing the sadness of all who had gazed once upon this magnificent, one-of-a-kind tree. To the Haida this Sitka spruce was sacred and known as the "Elder Spruce Tree", the only tree the Haida ever named, and in their legends considered to have once been human. Bruce was the person who had shown me this tree the first time and I had never forgotten it. Very early the next morning (he knocked at the camper door around 5am) we were up in order to not miss the return ferry to the mainland. We had spent too short a time with our Bruce and Kirsten and hopefully would see them again when next we are back this way visiting family. I look forward to hearing him say again - namaste old friend! gws
