February 21, 2022
Turns out this February is colder than usual and the boat is fully iced into the marina. We’re not getting out of here anytime soon in the sailboat. With the promise of endless heat, we loaded up the dogs, clothes and headed for a weekend away on the island.
Aside from a weekend away from the chilly air and constant crunching sounds of ice breaking, we actually had some things to take care of over in Nanaimo and Victoria. We’d decided that the aft bed just wasn’t big enough and we were moving over to the V berth and Victoria had a mattress place that came highly recommended. We wanted to test them out and get one ordered so we’d have it in time for Spring. We’d also ordered our autopilot and most of it had finally come in.
With the dogs packed up, and bad coffee in hand, we set off on the ferry to Nanaimo first. We grabbed the autopilot quickly to make it down to Victoria to test out mattresses. Check mark on ordering a mattress that should be done in about 6 weeks. Then it was off to Bamfield so we could ”experience the West Coast”.
We made a stop at Lake Cowichan for the night, took a long stroll around town and found ourselves at the pub for dinner. Mark is still talking about the desert form this place 6 months later. Next day, we headed out the fire roads over to Bamfield.
Fun Fact: Bamfield is split in two, separated by water. Another fun fact was that our Air BnB was on the water side (something neither of us knew) and there is no real restaurant.
Thankfully the store sold pizza. A boardwalk along the water took us from our cabin right to the store (presumably downtown) and then it was a short stroll over the hill to the beaches. The dogs appreciated the wide open beach space to run around. On the way home the following day, we took the time to stop at the start of the west coast trail, mostly so the dogs (us) could get their fill of beach time. Weirdly, Sprocket has decided at 12 that he now buries sticks in sand.
We certainly got to see the Pacific Ocean in all her glory this trip. This is definitely on our list of places to return to with the sailboat next summer.
Lake Cowichan
Bamfield: We think the start of the West Coast Trail?
Bamfield
It was magic
the Pacific in all her glory