Continuing our roadtrip adventure, we were off to North Vancouver Island to car camp and explore. My ankle was a bit swollen, so no more hiking for us!
Day 1 – Telegraph Cove
We bumped into Anth and his buddies on the ferry which was a fun surprise. Once we arrived in Nanaimo we drove to Telegraph Cove, stopping for coffee and a sweet treat at Royston Roasting coffee house en route. We set up camp and made dinner – bbq’d skewers, rice, and greek salad. I think I was still tired when we packed as I forgot plates! After dinner we walked to the boardwalk and briefly saw a humpback whale in the distance!
Day 2 – whale watching tour
We were eager to see orcas together as Megan has never seen them before! As a kid she was obsessed with the movie Free Willy, and always made us play a made up version of the game in the pool. We were here a bit early in the whale watching season but crossed our fingers for the best!
We saw sea lions, harbour porpoise, Dahl’s porpoise, and humpback whales – including a mom and calf. The calf was playing around and splashing, putting on quite the show. And the dahl’s porpoise were also quite playful swimming in the wake of the boat, under and around us. We saw everything but orcas!!
After the tour we popped over to Port McNeil for groceries and had a rotisserie chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, and salad for dinner.
Day 3 – Alert Bay
We headed over to Alert Bay, taking the ferry from Port McNeil. Since the island is quite small, we opted to leave the car behind and walk-on. Alert Bay is home of the U’mista Cultural Centre – a world famous collection of repatriated Kwakwaka‘wakw ceremonial regalia.
The ferry ride was a beautiful 40 min trip, with several sea otters floating on their backs as we sailed by. When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by beautiful indigenous artwork.
We walked over to the U’mista Cultural Centre – its main attraction is the previously confiscated potlatch regalia that were stolen after an illegal potlatch in 1921. After the ban was lifted, the Kwakwaka’wakw people fought for decades for the return of their sacred regalia that had ended up in museum and private collections around the world. The U’mista Cultural Centre is next to the site of the St Mike’s residential school, which wasn’t closed until 1974 and has since been demolished. It was very moving to be there and to reflect on Canada’s history.
We explored Alert Bay more, checking out the world’s largest totem pole and their current big house.
We had a cold drink on a patio before catching our ferry back and cooking up a nice steak dinner. Post-dinner, we sat on the beach with our binoculars looking for whales and were visited by a beautiful black bear! We watched it turn over rocks and eat for about 30 min, it came as close as 50m from us! It was really cool.
Day 4 – return to Vancouver
We packed up camp and made our way back to Vancouver. We even spotted some humpbacks in the distance from the ferry. We had such a great trip, a real mix of everything! What a blast and a special time together I’ll never forget.
