A trip to the West Coast of Vancouver Island May 1-4, 2014

I had been wanting to go to the west coast of Vancouver Island for some time and had been looking at advertisements for lodges etc.  Then Club Intrawest where I have a time share announced that they were opening some units in Ucluelet.  Ucluelet and Tofino are the two towns that are at each end of Pacific Rim National Park.  As soon as I could several months ago, book, I did, and two friends and I went off to the island on Sunday.

carved cats in Qualicum

There are several ferry routes to Vancouver Island but this time we took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver to Departure Bay in Nanaimo which from where I live is the shortest route to get to our eventual destination which was the west coast of the island.

It was a beautiful sunny day perfect for ferry riding.  The ride itself takes about one hour and forty minutes plus it's about a half hour drive from my house and then you want to get there early to make sure you make the ferry.  You can make reservations but I figured mid day Sunday wouldn't be too busy.

nice winery but no one was there so we didn't buy any wine

Our first stop was in Qualicum where we had a nice lunch and did a bit of shopping.  Then we were on our way to my the home of my  old friends (as in high school and university) just outside Port Alberni.  Port Alberni is kind of the gateway to the west coast.  My first visit to Ucluelet was when we first moved out here in 1980, and Art and Jenny and their two children had just moved there from Fort St. John.  But they have lived in Port Alberni for many years and Sandy and Val and I had a great time visiting them on their hobby farm.

in the Halsall's field

After a delicious breakfast, we headed off on the road to Ucluelet.  It's a lovely drive on a twisty road.  Until the late 70's it was a logging road.  On my first trip, it was pouring rain and I had a logging truck in front of me, and one behind, but Monday was a perfect day.

Black Rock

 We reached Ucluelet around 11:30 and found where I thought I was staying, at the Black Rock Ocean Resort. It was a stunning setting but I discovered we weren't staying there but at the Water's Edge Resort so we had a great walk and a delicious lunch before we went into Ucluelet to find where we were staying!  Apparently I wasn't the first one to make that error!  

We are on the Wild Pacific Trail.

 The "beaches" in Ucluelet are rocky.  I remember walking them long ago when the Halsalls lived in Ucluelet...

Here you can see salad berries...

 I can imagine how wild this could be in the winter!

 Here is a very helpful map of the Ucluelet area.  When I first visited long ago in the early 80's Ucluelet was very much a working town of forestry workers and fishermen, but with changes in economy Ucluelet had to reinvent itself as a tourist town… By the way the Water's Edge Resort is right across from the harbour on the other side!

Here you can see moss on those trees- a real rainforest...















And here's a little sound...

looking out from Black Rock Ocean Resort

We found where we were staying but we since we couldn't check in until 4:00 so we decided to go the park!  At the tourism information bureau, we purchased a day pass which would allow us to park anywhere until 4:00 the next day.  And then we were heading to   Pacific Rim National Park.

It was time to visit Wickaninnish Beach

A few warnings...

 Trilliums peaking out here!

It was so lovely walking along the firm sand and hearing the crash of the waves…

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 This was a display in the Interpretation Centre (well worth a visit for its many interesting displays).  This particular display was of outfits designed from trash-very creative.

It is just so beautiful here

Looking out from the Interpretation Centre

A little history-this area was very important for defence during the Second World War and there still may be bombs that were never detonated!

Eventually it was getting to be late afternoon and we were looking forward to checking in.  Our room was still not ready at 4:00 so we waited in the members' lounge and here is our view of Ucluelet Harbour!

 By 4:30 we were in our two bedroom two bathroom unit with two decks-the front deck looking over the harbour.  It was lovely

 We later walked to the other side where there is an estuary.

 It was quite spectacular

 It was very pleasant sitting on our deck! It was really quiet and we saw eagles, seals, and ….

 a deer...

We finally put an end to a perfect day!  Stay tuned for our second day on the West Coast.