Victoria and Vancouver

We awoke in Victoria and had a beautiful view out in the harbour while we indulged in the breakfast ingredients we cobbled together.  Breakfast included an apple, orange, yogurt, avocado and a protein bar and tea for me and coffee for J!

We checked out of the hotel and drove to Swartz Bay (about 40 minutes away) to catch our ferry to Vancouver.  We are sure glad we had reservations for all of our ferry rides on this trip.  We just showed them a copy of our reservation that had a bar code which they scanned, and we were directed to the correct lineup with our car. 

The ferry from Victoria to Vancouver affords some really wonderful views of the Gulf Islands.  The section between Pender and Gabriola Island was particularly pretty.  

After our 1 hour and 40 minute ferry ride, we had another hour to drive downtown Vancouver to check into our hotel.  Our room wasn't ready, so we parked and walked along the water towards Yaletown.  

We were aiming to get to Granville Island, but we couldn't figure out how to walk there without paying a water taxi fare, so we found the restaurant Paratha to Pasta offered a lunch special that suited our fancy.  I had salad (J had soup) and then I had butter chicken and rice (J had a mushroom dish with rice) and gulab jamun for dessert, for $19!  Deal.

We received a text that our room was ready.  There is no way we ordinarily would stay at the JW Marriott, but I had bought a silent auction item last Christmas that included a one night stay at this hotel, knowing we were planning this BC trip.  So this hotel is a high end treat wouldn't otherwise explore!

We got a room on the 15th floor - and I could see out the window, down to the Parc, on level 6, was filming a TV show or a movie.  It was fun to watch!

We then went for a hot tub up on floor 17.  It didn't appear that there was a pool here - but there is a huge weight room if you wanted to work out!

I then wanted to walk over to BC Place (situated right next door) to see where the FIFA World Cup games will be played in June of 2026.  We ate Italian for supper at Frankies Italian Kitchen.  J had an excellent pizza and I had a delicious Shrimp Tagliatelle pasta dish!

We had beautiful weather - 25 C and blue sky today.  We have been most fortunate to have glorious weather for all of this trip.  We are really doing a driving trip back home (that will take 3 days) so there won't be much to report, so I expect this will be my last post on this trip.  J has promised me we might be able to eat Ukrainian food in Grand Forks, so there is that to look forward to!  Thanks for following along.

Parksville, East Sooke and Victoria

We awoke in Parksville and enjoyed breakfast at the Trees Restaurant and Bakery.  Great to eat breakfast at a local establishment and not have a continental breakfast at a hotel for a change!

We returned to the Ocean Sands Resort and squeezed in a walk on Rathtrevor Beach.  The tide goes WAY out here!

We checked out at 11 AM and headed towards Sooke, outside of Victoria.  We planned to visit friends, Garry and Sharon.  We have known them for over three decades and lived together in two provinces.  They built their forever home in East Sooke on a beautiful piece of property.  We were lucky enough to spend the afternoon visiting with them, having a tour of their gorgeous home, enjoying their company, sharing a charcuterie board then saying farewell about three hours later.  It was just a lovely afternoon.

We then drove on to Victoria right downtown to the Grand Pacific, situated right down on the harbour, next to the Legislative buildings in BC.  So this was the central tourist zone and it was crazy busy with pedestrians and cars.  I asked the first two employees we encountered at the hotel if this was normal.  They said yes, in the summer this is about how many people are milling about.  What we learned later, from the Rogers Chocolate shop employee - that this is cruise season!!  Because cruise ships come in and stay until 11 PM, this is full on, tourist mode.   She said the earliest they would close, would be 9 PM, because of all the tourists associated with the ships.  That makes sense.

Victoria has done a wonderful job developing a welcoming tourist zone that was flooded in sunlight.  We enjoyed our walk from about 6 PM to 8:30 PM.  We squeezed in a quick bowl of pho for supper.  Anyhow, we are pleased to be in the heart of the tourist zone if we are only spending one night here!  We have plans to catch a ferry to Vancouver tomorrow morning at 11 AM.

Kayaking From Telegraph Cove

We awoke at 6:30 AM and left the Port Hardy Airport Inn at 7:30 AM.  We arrived at the community of Telegraph Cove. The community of Telegraph Cove may resonate with you as it was in the news when on December 31, 2024 a fire started at the north end of the boardwalk and quickly spread and consumed the pub, restaurant, Tide Rip Tours office, Prince of Whales office and the Whale Interpretive Center.  The community is on its way to rebuilding itself.

We drove straight to the office of At the Water's Edge Adventures (AWE).  We booked a one day kayaking trip called the Broughton Archipelago/Blackfish Sound Water Taxi Assisted Day.  Our capable, friendly guides were Kai and Ash.  We were provided with a paddling jacket and life jacket and a 10 litre dry bag. 

The beauty of today's paddle is we started off with a boat ride over the Johnstone Strait to Swanson Island.  This put us into some great paddling areas right away without having to do a big open water crossing.  We were blessed with sunshine, blue skies, warm temperatures and no wind!  Perfect for a day of kayaking!  

J was maybe a bit disappointed because we were all in double kayaks (10 guests - 5 kayaks) so he didn't get a single - but I loved it!  I am confident in a canoe, but less so in a kayak.  J is such a strong paddler, I truly act as a passenger and seldom put my paddle in the water because we always would get ahead of the guides, and of course they want one guide in front and the other in the back.

Before we even put our boats in the water on the Swanson Island side, we spotted Orcas (killer whales!) in front of our beach.  Did you know that bull kelp can grow 25 cm each day in the summer?  We paddled for about an hour and a half then stopped at this beach for lunch:

AWE provided us with lunch that included coffee, tea, hummus, pita, all the ingredients for a greek salad and cookies and granola bars for dessert.  The tide came up so quickly on the beach we had to move our boats up twice so they didn't float away!

After lunch we saw humpback whales, dall porpoises, seals and salmon jumping!

We were surprised to see two cruise ships coming through the passage.

Kai was in constant radio contact with others in the company and arranged for our boat pick up at a nice flat beach - important to land a kayak.  I really like this photo of where we were picked up:

We watched some whales, sea lions and other wildlife on the boat ride as we headed back to our starting point.  We helped the guides unload everything from the boat, thanked the guides and said farewell to our new friends from Germany, Belgium and the US.  I think we were the only Canadians as guests.  Kai said that was typical of the customers they see.

We had a hotel reservation in Parksville - a three hour drive, so we hit the road right away (around 5 PM).  We stopped in Campbell River at McDonald's (within the WalMart) for supper. We happened to sit with a Mom and son from Calgary.  They had dropped off another son/brother who set sail on one of the tall ships we saw in Port Hardy.  They are with the SALTS (Sail and Life Training Society) program where students can have a 10 day experience boarding a tall ship.  It was a really interesting conversation.

We arrived at our hotel at 8:57 PM and learned the office had closed at 6 PM!  That seemed very early to me.  They had an emergency number to call - so I called.  They had left our keys and directions in a lock box.  We moved into our room and immediately went outside for a cup of tea and glass of beer to watch the sun set!

Port Hardy

 Having arrived at our hotel after midnight last night (and having been up since 4:30 AM), we appreciated checking into our room and almost immediately collapsing in bed.

So today we slept in until about 7:30 - 8:00 AM.  We ate our very simple continental breakfast in the hotel.  We explored what we could do in the area and decided on a walk on Storeys Beach.  J always likes to explore these long beaches in depth - I walked for just an hour or so.  When I returned to get my book to sit on the beach and read, I was delighted to see that there were whales in the area!  J some them too, from a different vantage point.

As we were staying at the Airport Inn (do not read 'fancy' when you read the title - it is most definitely a 2 star motel) we had to drive about 10 km into town.  We used our A & W coupons to get a teen burger meal and two mama burgers for lunch.  After that we found the visitors centre and walked along the waterfront.  Two tall ships were in town and seemed to have a group of people boarding them.

We then went to the Quatse Salmon Stewardship Centre where we learned about the efforts to help coho salmon survive.  From 2,500 eggs spawned in the wild, only TWO make it back to spawn.  With the help of NVISEA 100 or more return to spawn.  That is a 50 fold increase in the salmon's success rate to live!





We went for a walk in the woods along the Quatse River (which is very low and is a very warm 13 C), then returned to our room for a little down time.

We then shared two entrees for supper at the Glen Lyon Inn.  Back to the room to catch up on some work - and pack for our kayaking day trip tomorrow.  We need to leave the hotel at 7:30 AM to drive to Telegraph Cove to meet for the day's adventure!

Inside Passage Ferry: Prince Rupert to Port Hardy

Today we cruised from Prince Rupert (mainland BC) to Port Hardy (northeast side of Vancouver Island). Having taken four ferries (two long and two short) prior to this date (on this vacation) we felt we knew how to prepare for the day.  It is a long day of travel, but exciting.  We had an alarm set for 4:45 AM and I was awake at 4:30 AM.  We left the hotel by about 5:15 AM.

 

One of the really wonderful things about the Inn on the Harbour – is they will pack you breakfast in a bag if you need to check out before breakfast is offered beginning at 7 AM.  So we were able to complete a sheet and request specific items.  We both chose boiled eggs, muffins, yogurt & cereal bars.  J chose all-bran cereal and an orange.  I added an orange & a cheese slice!  Something else the hotel offered that was appreciated was boiling water available any time in the lobby.  As a tea drinker, I really appreciated this.  A Keurig coffee maker in the room is appreciated by the coffee drinkers!

 

Once we left the hotel, we drove about 5 minutes to the ferry terminal and waited in line.  We were checked into lane 2 without issue.  They do ask to see a piece of ID (twice) to confirm who is getting on the ship.  

 

When we booked this ferry months ago, we were given an option to book a cabin.  As it was 17 hours of time on the ferry, I liked the option of booking an assigned seat.  J didn’t care and was sure he would get a seat. After parking the car, we went up to the Purser’s Desk on deck 4 and joined a small line of other people who were primarily checking into cabins.  Once at the front of the line, we showed the BC Ferries staffer, Vicki, our receipt for a single seat.  She said, “Do                                                                             you really want just one seat?  I put a question mark by your name so there is another one available.  You would have to pay the $40 for it, but I think you will really like it.”  J agreed, and said sure he would pay the $40.  Vicki them pointed out on the floor plan that our seats were in the Aurora Lounge on Deck 5 – in the front row at the centre!!!  I don’t think a person has the choice of where to book their seats, but we were assigned A22 and A23!

 

We have the best view on this ferry (except for the Bridge and the Captain) and that is thanks to Vicki.  She saw that we booked the ferry a long time ago (Yes, J originally booked this ferry in 2019, but you know, COVID, so we were cancelled, but in 2025, he booked the ferry the day they opened up reservations.  So our advice to anybody who thinks they would like to book this ferry, would be pay the 10% upcharge to get an assigned seat in the Aurora Lounge – we had no idea of the amazing view we would enjoy!  (Think of it like the Crowsnest on a Holland America ship!)

 The ship departed shortly after 7:30 AM and our adventure down the inside passage began.  It was cloudy all day – but as we headed south the clods lifted and we could see the tops of the mountains.

 

This is the route we followed:

 Cruise ships heading to Alaska will usually take this passage, but we have yet to see one today, so maybe we are mistaken!  The first 4 hours we travelled a section of the inside passage that gets to be 1400 feet at its narrowest:

By the time we hit Whale Passage, we started viewing humpback whales.  J was good at spotting blowholes and tell me the general area to look.  Then I might see a dorsal fin and finally a tail when they would go for a deep dive down to feed.  We looked at them through binoculars and didn’t bother trying to capture a less than adequate photo with our cameras.

 

We were pleased to have packed our lunch in my sister’s borrowed cooler (Yay, thank you LC!).  We had wraps, hummus & BC cherries.  We have plenty of snacks too.  

 

We kept busy watching for marine life, looking through binoculars, taking photos, reading books, and typing this blog in a word document where I could easily cut and paste into the Blogtorch app later.  

 

There were very few communities along the route.

 

I believe this photo was Dryad Point Lighthouse:

 The aft view from back of Deck 6:

 

I like this island in the distance – it kind of looks like a volcano:

 The ferry stopped in Bella Bella – a few people and vehicles got off the ship and a few more got on the ship.  According to BC Ferries, “Bella Bella is a prosperous fishing and logging community with a hospital, schools, and a cultural center and one of the largest First Nations communities on the coast.  It has a population of 3,000.  BC Ferries began passenger service to Bella Bella in the spring of 1977 and continues service on a year round basis.

J and I chose to go to the café on the ship to buy supper once the ship wasn’t moving in Bella Bella.  Most of the food offered on BC Ferries is pub food – like hamburgers and French fries.  I was really delighted to see two hot meal specials were offered for dinner.  One was a chicken dinner, the other was prime rib.  John and I decided to split the prime rib and added a bowl of clam chowder.  It was quite tasty and more reasonably priced than lots of food on land!

 

I listened to a few podcasts I had downloaded and read some more after supper and of course, watched the scenery!  Other travellers had brought playing cards or puzzles to build, or dozed.  

 

We arrived in Port Hardy around midnight, disembarked and drove to one of the few hotels that were near the ferry terminal.  Of course it was essential to have a reservation, because there aren’t many rooms available in Port Hardy!

 

Prince Rupert

Today was a quiet day in Prince Rupert. We stayed in the now familiar hotel, Inn on the Harbour and awoke to cloud and some fog.  Around 10:30 AM J headed out for a hike  He got no further than the front desk and they advised him, the fog was more likely to lift in the afternoon.  So he returned to the room and we decided to walk to Safeway to buy some food.

At Safeway we picked up hot chicken for lunch and bought a selection of food (cheese, meet, yogurt, veggies etc) we will snack on tomorrow during our 17 hour ferry ride.  We brought our chicken back to the hotel and ate at a table in the breakfast room.

J headed out after lunch to tackle the 9 km trail "The Tall Trees".  I wasn't willing to put in the effort when I still couldn't see higher than 100 m before hitting the cloud, while the trail he was going to climb was 450 m.  In the end, J climbed at the speed he wanted and did get a view at the top!

When he returned I thought we would hike the Butze Rapids, but told me the best views of the day had passed along with the movement of the cloud.  So we walked downtown to Dolly's for supper instead.

While walking, we found another cruise ship in town, the Seabourn Quest!

We walked by the colourful shipping containers on the port, that get transformed to market stalls.  We took note of the fun chart showing rainfall around the world.  Prince Rupert is at the top with 2,620 mm of rain a year, Hong Kong is second with 2,220 mm, while Toronto has 831 mm!  We really were blessed with amazing weather while visiting this region!

We had halibut and crab at Dolly's for supper.  It will be an early to bed night as we have a 5 AM alarm to drive to our ferry!

Ferry from Skidegate to Prince Rupert

Today we awoke and had cereal in the room for breakfast.  Jags has a breakfast café, but it doesn’t open until 8 AM and that is about when we planned to leave to line up for the ferry to return to the mainland.  So we came prepared on this trip with a few Ziploc bags of cereal with powdered milk so that we could add water to make milk!  I failed to realize the importance of making sure the water I added was cold.  Ew!  So the end result was kind of luke warm milk in my cereal!  It was acceptable though. 

This was the amazing view that could be found across the street from our hotel:

 I failed to mention yesterday we saw 8 deer on the drive to Masset.  The deer are smaller on Haida Gwaii and have no natural predators.  Here is a picture I captured:

 

Our short drive to the ferry terminal in Skidegate had us added to line 14 in short order.  Line 14 seemed to be designated for vehicles small enough to make a U-turn on the boat and wedge in the corner on deck 4 to allow for a an easier exit.  All of the larger ferries that run between Vancouver and Vancouver Island have exits on either end of the boat.  Drive in one end, drive out the other.  The Northern Adventure has only one entrance to drive on and off the boat.  Here is an image of what parking is like on Deck 4.

 The Raven Lounge on Deck 6 didn’t feel as cold today.  I am still glad I wore comfy long pants and my merino wool long sleeve crew neck and hoodie.  We departed Skidegate in sunshine, we encountered fog and a some rougher seas midway across (about 4 – 5 hours into the crossing) and we arrived in Prince Rupert to cloudy weather.

John up on deck as we left Skidegate:

Goodbye Haida Gwaii!!  We were blessed with extraordinary weather!

 

We again are staying at the Inn on the Harbour hotel, so that is familiar to us.  

We walked to Lee & Ann and enjoyed a salad roll and bowl of wonton soup.

 

We have one full day in Port Hardy tomorrow where we plan to hike – so hopefully the weather cooperates.

 

The day after that that, we will take the ferry on the inside passage from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy on the northeastern corner of Vancouver Island.  We are really excited about that ferry – the views are supposed to be spectacular.  When we first booked this trip five years ago, securing a spot on that ferry was the lynchpin that failed.  COVID happened and BC Ferries cancelled our reservation because we were from out of the province and they needed to reduce the numbers of passengers on the ferries.  It has taken five years of coordinating my work schedule and other vacation plans before we were able to rebook this circuit through BC.  We are so very happy to be able to enjoy this vacation in 2025.

Masset, Tow Hill and Skidegate

 Today we took the 20 minute ferry north from Moresby Island to Graham Island.  While on the ferry we met up with a pedestrian passenger who lost her luggage with the airline and is hoping it gets delivered before she starts her 8 day kayak trip tomorrow!  Sounds familiar to J!  He had the same thing happen on his 14 day kayak two years ago.  His luggage didn't arrive, he paddled for a couple days using clothes he packed in his carry on bag and got his full bag delivered by Zodiac boat a few days after the kayaking trip started!  We told her to hold out hope!

Once we arrived in Skidegate we drove north on the Yellowhead highway to Masset, BC.  It is one of the few populated areas on Haida Gwaii in the north.  In fact A Naval Radio Station was established  in 1943 called CFS Masset.  It was built during WWII to become a relay station for ship to shore communications.

We stopped at the Yellowhead Highway Zero Marker, showing where the highway begins on the west coast!

It was so very fortunate that we happened upon a space in Masset that had 3 totem poles in front.  It looked like a Haida was giving a tour to a small group so we asked if we might join.  The guide said yes for a donation we could join in on the tour.  He talked knowledgeably about the carving of totem poles.  Then he invited us into his 'tool shed' and I was stunned by what we saw!  Inside the workshop, we saw amazing, huge works of art!  A totem pole was in progress and huge wooden canoes were being worked on.

We learned our guide was Christian M. White, a Haida artist for the past 45 years.  He began training at age 14, apprenticing under his father.  Christian now trains other young Haida men and women traditional knowledge and skills.  He would be one of two living Haidi artists who is exceptionally well known.

His work was amazing!

We did eat at an outdoor patio called 626 Cafe.  Fish and chips were the order of the day for me!  The halibut was amazingly fresh.

After lunch we drove to the northeast corner of Haida Gwaii to see Tow Hill.  

It was very windy. J was trying to capture the waves being forced up through a blow hole!

We headed south and made our way back to Skidegate to stay at Jags for the night.  It is the number 1 rated hotel in Skidegate!  It is lovely, with limitations.  No formal check in - they sent an email, so figure out your room number and walk inside!  They did allow us to do laundry for $10.  Done.  We are about halfway through our trip to clean clothes are appreciated!

Tomorrow we catch the big ferry back to Prince Rupert - another full day event to cross back to the mainland.  

Zodiac Around Louise Island

Today we woke up to blue sky and sunshine.  Perfectly glorious weather for a zodiac boat ride!  Since J has paddled in Haida Gwaii for two weeks in 2023, he planned this day for me to see a bit of the beauty of Haida Gwaii.

Breakfast of sausages, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, yogurt and fruit was prepared and served to us at 6:45 AM.  Our guide, Casey,  from Moresby Explorers, picked us up at 7:15 AM.  We picked up two women from Juneau, Alaska at the nearby golf course, then picked up another seven passengers at the ferry.  All of those passengers had walked on the ferry as pedestrians.

We drove south on Moresby Island for about 45 minutes (33 km) to get to Moresby camp.  We were all outfitted with knee high rubber boots, rubber rain pants and life jackets integrated into warm coats.  We then loaded into our zodiac boat.  

Our put in point was just a spectacular site.

Above is Casey loading the boat into the water.  Generally you sit in the zodiac as if you were sitting on a horse.  Casey made frequent stops on the water to tell us about something we could see on shore.  The first spot we stopped at, called Arrow Camp, had a number of posts sticking out of the water.  We learned that these posts used to support a train track and the train used to swing out onto the water (away from land) to drop cedar logs directly into the water!  Amazing.

The Federal Government and the Haida people tried to come to an agreement over ownership of Haida Gwaii in the 1970's.  They didn't agree who owned it - but they did agree it should be protected.  The result was the establishment of Gwaii Hanaas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site.  We were privileged to stop at the K'uuna Llnagaay (briefly known by its English name, Skedans).  This is a Haida site is guarded by The Watchmen.  Mel and her daughter Raven gave us a tour of this sacred ground.  The Watchmen program is to guard and protect sites as too many sites were vandalized or had artefacts stolen, prior to the establishment of the program.

We had our lunch on the beach here after the tour.  The sun just kept getting hotter.  This is far hotter than usual for Haida Gwaii (and our high today was 19C).  I was prepared for cool temperatures and rain for this trip!

After our delicious lunch, we loaded up into the boat and carried on in a counter clockwise direction around Louise Island.  Casey had us stop at Daas Beach - a beautiful sand beach.  A few people went swimming, some sat in the shade, we followed Casey to learn about trees in the area.  

We saw a number of the rare abalone shells - which we are forbidden from removing from the park.

After 45 minutes we headed back into the boat for the final boat ride back to Camp.  We were fortunate to see a black bear.  Bears on the island have longer legs than normal and larger jaws for consuming shellfish and crabs.

We then returned to camp and retraced our steps to take off our gear. 

I should say it was really quite cool while zipping along the water, so the wet weather gear was needed to keep us warm.

Once safely dropped off back at our Seaview B & B, we showered, changed and drove to the golf course for supper.  We sat outside on the second floor outdoor patio to eat.

All that fresh air is making me tired and it is only 9:18 PM!