Vancouver Island Trip - Last Day

October 27th was our last day at the guest house in Courtenay.  Rather reluctantly we packed up and tidied up and prepared for our departure.  Chris and I created quite the Beer-a-mid of empties over the course of the week.  Even more alarming is the fact that Arturo can't drink beer, so this was the work of just the two of us.  In fairness Arturo did accumulate his own pile of emply wine bottles.

It was a cold and frosty morning with a clear blue sky.  I was surprised that all week long there were Ruby Throated Hummingbirds visiting the feeders, despite these cold temperatures.  Back home on the prairies this little hummers leave in August, before the first sign of any cold weather.  We wandered around the yard a little, taking a few snapshots, before hitting the road.

We drove down to Nanaimo and to the Duke Point ferry terminal.  Along the way we stopped at a burned out Esso Station is Bowser and photographed there.  Apparently we took a little too long at that stop and by the time we got to the ferry terminal we were a little late getting in line.  We missed the boat, quite literally, but about four vehicles.  This meant a two to three hour wait to catch the next ferry to Tsawwassen.  I had never taken this particular ferry before.  On the way out to the Island we took the one from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver to Departure Bay in Nanaimo.  Years ago I took the other one from Swartz Bay near Victoria, to Tsawwassen.  This one from Duke Point is a little longer at about two hours, and takes a diagonal route from Nanaimo to the lower mainland.

It was late afternoon when we finally got off the ferry and we headed over to Surrey to try to locate the rental condo that would be our residence for the next four nights.  We found it without too much issue and offloaded all of our gear and got settled down.

Vancouver Island Trip - Sproat Lake and Port Alberni

After spending most of the day on October 26th in Cathedral Grove, we took a drive further inland to Port Alberni, and beyond to Sproat Lake.  We knew of a petroglyph site at Sproat Lake that we wanted to photograph.  It was about a half a kilometer walk from the parking area to a small cliff on the shore of the lake.  Not an easy task with a backpack that could not be carried on my back.  My arms became quite tired as I carried it in a bearhug to and from the site.

After photographing there we noticed a large aircraft just up the shore.  This was the Mars Bomber, and it was in dry dock at the site of a forest fire fighting company.  We drove over to it bu unfortunately the site was locked up and we were only able to view the two massive flying boats from through a chain link fence.  These World War II era cargo planes were converted to water bombers for fighting forest fires.  See further information below....

By this time it was getting to be rather late in the day and we ran out of time to make it to the nearby  McLean Mill Historic Site.  This was the site of a historic sawmill and a rail line that once ran to it.  As we had to leave the island the next morning, this site will need to be left for a future visit.

On our way back to the guest house we made a stop in Port Alberni.  There was a cool old hotel there and we decided to check it out for the Beer Parlour Project.  There was guy there shooting pool by himself, and we kind of suspect that he was trying to hustle us into a game.  None of us took him up on it, but he was agreeable to letting Arturo photograph him.    It was a weekday afternoon and the place was pretty full, and there was a band playing.  I can only imagine what it must be like on a Saturday night.  An official visit for the Beer Parlour Project will have to wait for a return visit as we simply could not squeeze it on this day.

Here is a link to a Wikipedia post about these famous aircraft, and a couple of images copies from that post.  Only seven of these aircraft were ever built, and two of them now reside at Sproat Lake.  They were converted to water bombers for fighting forest fires, but are now retired.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_JRM_Mars

Vancouver Island Trip - Cathedral Grove

On October 26th the guys and I took a drive south on the Island Highway to Parksville, and then headed west on Highway 4.  This is the highway out to Tofino and Pacific Rim, though we didn't get nearly that far, and had no plans to do so.

We visited Cathedral Grove, in  MacMillan Provincial Park, on the shore of Cameron Lake.  Here there is a grove of old growth cedar trees that are among the largest and oldest on the island.  I believe the oldest one in the grove is about 800 years old.

There were beautiful fall colors on all the Bigleaf Maples in the understory.  A yellow filter would have been ideal to bring up the values in the leaves, on black and white film.  To my dismay I discovered that my yellow filter did not service the incident at the Fanny Bay Inn when the strap broke on my backpack, and it crashed to the ground.  I checked everything else and the only other item that did not survive was a small piece of frosted glass that I occasionally use as a diffuser.  I had Yellow-Green and Orange filters that survived, so I used those instead.  The look is slightly different, but close enough that it was not a major issue.

It was rather cold in the morning when we first arrived, and the boardwalks were very slippery with frost.  It melted off, and the morning mist and fog slowly lifting.  We spent several hours here photographing the magnificent trees.  By the time we finished up and moved on, it was already 2:00 in the afternoon.  This forced us to rethink our plans for the rest of the day, and we had to prioritize what we could do with the time remaining.

Vancouver Island Trip - Up Island

This post is actually a little out of order.  On the morning of October 23rd, Arturo decided that he would prefer to sleep in.  He is a bit of a night owl, and struggles to get up early.  Chris and I were up at first light almost every morning of the two weeks we spent on the road.

We decided to head north up the island and see what we could find.  We stopped at Nymph Falls Nature Park.  This is on the Puntledge River, which starts up at Comox Lake, and drains into the ocean at Courtenay.  There is a hydro electric dam on the river at Comox Lake.  At this time of year the dam is open, and the flow on the river is significant.  The water was rushing by like cars on a freeway.

We also explored further up the island and made it as far as Campbell River.  We stopped at a small public beach along the ocean, and also drove around the industrial area in Campbell River.  There were a couple of commercial yards that looked kind of interesting, but access to them was not possible.  This would prove to be a common issue through much of our trip.

We wrapped things up by late morning and headed back to the guest cottage to meet up with Arturo.  Later that afternoon we would head back down to the shore near Courtenay and explore for a second time at Union Bay.  See my previous post for some snapshots from that afternoon.

Vancouver Island Trip - Comox Marina

After Chris and I finished up at the FBI, and episode BP8.0 was wrapped up, we headed back to the guest house to meet up with Arturo.  He had just finished up his work for the day and was immensely disappointed that he had missed out on the Beer Parlour Project.  

When we were down at the Comox Marina a couple of days prior, Arturo had seen the rigging on a sailboat he wanted to shoot, but the light was not very good at the time.  So we took him back down to the marina to allow him an opportunity to shoot it.  We met Bob, the owner of the sailboat.  He and his spouse live on the boat year round, and in the winter months, when they are not sailing, they just hang around the marina.  He was a really interesting character to talk to, and we enjoyed chatting with him while Arturo photographed his boat. 

I didn't bring my big camera down to the marina and never did shoot anything there. But I was preoccupied watching the hundreds of jellyfish that we gracefully bobbing around in the water.  I recall that the girls and I were witness to the same thing when we visited back in 2016.

November Calendar Image

This is the image that I selected for the November Page of my 2023 Fine Art Photography calendar.  This is a shot of Shunda Creek, not far from my cottage, where it spills over and out of Beaverdam Lake.  I liked the way that ice was starting to form on the rocks in the stream.  I can't remember exactly when I shot this, and could look it up if it was really important, but it was at about this time of year in 2021.

Vancouver Island Trip - BP8.0 - Fanny Bay Inn

On October the 25th, after shooting for the morning, Chris and I stopped in at a place called the FBI... The Fanny Bay Inn.  Arturo had stayed behind at the rental house to do some online work.  Chris and I were hungry for lunch, but also thought that the place might work for a possible BP Project location.

We noticed an elderly gentleman sitting in the corner, and thought he would be the perfect subject.  We spoke to the waitress, a young lady named Starr, and told her about our Beer Parlour Project and asked if the gentleman was a regular.  We also asked if it would be OK to talk to him about getting his photograph taken, and bringing our camera gear into the pub.

Starr was really excited about our project and thought it was a great idea.  Chris went over and spoke to the gentleman, but he declined getting his photograph taken.  We accepted his decision and reluctantly finished up our lunch.  Starr came over to check on us and asked if we had been given permission.  She was very disappointed when we told her that the elderly gentleman... Ken... had declined.

Much to our surprise Starr went over and talked to Ken and managed to convince him to let us photograph.  The big camera came in and I got it set up and soon we were the center of attention.  Everyone in the place was really excited about what we were doing.  I shot a couple of portraits of Ken and then another younger guy, heavily tattooed, who was also a regular, joined Ken for a couple more photographs.  The younger guy was a Polish immigrant named Sebastian.  I think I got a couple of great shots of both of them.  All the while Chris was rattling off some digital shots with his camera.

Ken really opened up to us and began to visit.  It turns out he was not your typical mariner, as his look suggested.  He was actually from Olds, in central Alberta and had been out on Vancouver Island for many years.  He was a steamfitter by trade, and was long retired.  I can't recall his exact age, but it was around 90, and Chris took a bunch of notes that will confirm this.

Ken insisted on making a $20 donation to our project and would not take no for an answer.  Eventually I graciously accepted it, but before we left we bought Ken a beer, and then put the 20 on his tab.

We went outside and took a couple more of the typical exterior shots that accompany all of our BP project outings.  The owner noticed us from his residence upstairs in the old hotel and came out to see what we were doing.  When he learned about the project he was also thrilled, and gave us his blessing to continue.

When we were done, and as I was loading my camera gear back into the truck, the strap broke on my backpack.  This would make the remainder of our trip somewhat difficult as it made the pack very awkward to carry.  Fortunately there was no serious damage to anything in the pack except for one filter that was smashed.

So this episode in the Beer Parlour Project, which is now officially BP8.0 was pretty short and sweet.  But it was a lot of fun and Chris and I enjoyed it immensely.  In the future we will have to make a point of making quick unannounced stops and see if we can catch lightning in a bottle again.