Protection Island and Nanaimo

Wednesday 4

We left our temporary home in Vancouver and took the scenic bus along Marine Dr. In West Vancouver to the ferry terminal in Horseshoe Bay for our Ferry to Nanaimo. Rebeka met us on the Nanaimo end and drove us to the termial for the Protection Island ferry. On the island we were met by our Airbnb host Liz who helped us to get installed in our little cabin.

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/11575974

The setting is idyllic with chairs for us looking out over the beach and the water.

Thursday 5

Our first morning and we had our coffee on the beach, watching the various boats and ferries go by... also Canada Geese and a river otter. Later we explored the island, which is very small with houses and cabins of all sorts, from the rustic to the luxurious. During the coal mining era in Nanaimo there was a mine head here on the island and there are still aritifacts here and there from that time. Apparently the shaft was sunk here to save the mining bosses money. A law forced them to start paying miners as soon as they entered the mine, rather than when they got to their work places, so the installed the shaft on Protection Island which was closer to the coal face in the tunnels. The miners traveled by boat across the harbor before enterning the mine on the island.

While seated on the beach later in the day we say 2 bald eagles and some vultures competing for access to something on the beach and then a group of 3 deer wandered by.

In the afternoon we took the ferry across the harbour and walked around Nanaimo... and of course had a coffee and a Nanaimo bar. (that is a desert that is now world famous and is not the same thing as a bar in Nanaimo... which there are a lot of).

Friday 6

We decided to rent car and drive to Ucluelet and Long Beach on the west side of Vancouver Island. It is about a 3 hour drive, much of it through the mountains that form the backbone of the island. When we got there it was pouring rain so we got soaked when we walked down the beach to watch the surfers... who were not numerous and were not very impressive. And they were not much wetter than we were.

Saturday 7

Today we went into town to visit the Bastion (a historical fort build to protect Nanaimo from the people the mining company stole the land from) and the museum. The museum has a nice exhibition on the mining history including the various disasters in the mines and the miners strikes as well as on the history of the native peoples.

Sunday 8

"I am sitting on the beach on Protection Island, it is 4:51am and the sun is coloring the sky over the mountains on the mainland to the east in preparation for its appearance. A quarter moon overhead... Harmac (the pulp mill) is sending plumes of smoke and steam into the air and the sea is glassy smooth. It is beautiful.’’

Today we had a picnic at a park near our cabin on Protection Island with my nephew Thor, his companion Rebeka, their son Nico and my sister-in-law, Thor's mother, Shirlee

Monday 9

The summer camp that Nico was supposed ot attend this week was cancelled so Thor and Rebeka were scrambling to find something to do with Nico, so we volunteered to take him for our 2 remaining days.

We drove Rebeka to work so that we could have her car for the day. We visited the house where I grew up and the nearby Morden Mine, now a provincial park and several of my old haunts.

Morden Mine

 

Tuesday 10

Nico came over to Protection Island and we went for a walk on the shoreline, he swam at the beach then to the play ground on the island before taking the ferry back to Nanaimo where Thor picked up Nico.

Nico played with the colour settings on my camera before I took this picture of him...

Suzanne and I went to meet my old friend Marg Litch at a café. While there our Airbnb host Liz walked up then joined us. Nanaimo is such a small town that after a couple of minutes Liz and Marg started to discover their mutual friends and acquaintances.

Wednesday 11

We said goodbye to our little cottage and Liz gave us a ride to the ferry in her golf cart since she was going into town anyway. We caught a city bus, beside Nanaimo’s tent city of homeless people, that took us to the terminal where we caught a bus for Victoria. A short walk took us to our last Airbnb of the trip... an eclectic apartment with a private kitchen and bathroom that we had to go outside to get to.

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/24062108

In the evening while Suzanne set out to explore the tourist area around the inner harbor and the Empress Hotel and I visited with Jean, an old friend from my days in Vancouver.

Thursday 12

 Back on the road again, city bus to the ferry terminal in Swartz Bay, ferry to Tsawwassen, another city bus and the sky train to our sleazy motel in Vancouver. We were told more than once that this motel is famous (or infamous), amongst other things it is used in TV shows and movies when they need a set for a... sleazy motel.

Some photos of scenes using the 2400 Motel. Top left from  X File featuring the door of our room.

Our room