We have been good.  Really really good.  We have followed the rules, worn our masks, gotten our vaccinations and still we cannot travel beyond our borders (at least by land, that is).  And we are getting just a bit frustrated – make that a lot frustrated.  We had become used to leaving, to being away, to finding new places to explore.  It’s not that we don’t like our island life, we are incredibly grateful for having such a beautiful spot to spend the Covid lockdown.  We have discovered hiking trails galore all around us and have added a couple of kayaks to our collection of “things we do”.  But still, we long for the days of being somewhere we have never been.  After all, isn’t that what is on our cover page?  “Homesick for places we’ve never been”.  Yes, we are indeed, homesick.  So, to distract ourselves, this summer we made our way to the northern parts of Vancouver Island, to explore places we had been before, but not yet kayaked.  It was glorious!  Two weeks of moving from one beautiful spot to another, finding the right times to put our little boats in the water and discovering our limitations – sometimes to comic effect.  And now, after being home for a few weeks to wish one grandson a Happy Birthday (Happy Birthday again, Ryder!) and be there for the very first day of school for our last grandson (Happy First Day of K, Liam!), we have taken off once again, this time to go even further north – as far north as we can go!  The plan is to spend as many days in the fall as we can exploring the north end of the island, up past where most tourists go, and finding places to kayak.  We have packed up our woolies, bought spray skirts for the yaks, and will hopefully check out as many lakes as possible before the weather turns.  So, with that in mind, come along and join us on this, our latest wander! 

Our first day out was to nowhere new, but somewhere lovely.  Just past Campbell River is McIvor Lake, an extremely popular spot in the summer with the locals, but a little quieter at this time of year.  As it turned out, we showed up on an amazingly summer-like day.  We could not pass up the opportunity to enjoy a sunny day on the water and so dropped the boats in.  It was a most magical time, paddling in the quiet waters, putting the kayaks to shore to enjoy a little snack, and just sitting.  The quiet was perfect.  We could hear the occasional call of a Raven from the trees above us, the sound of a jet flying above us so far up that it was long gone before the quiet sound reached us.  We watched the clouds drift silently above us and the breeze playing on the water, creating patterns of smooth and rough on the water.  There were few others out at this time of day, and we counted ourselves as fortunate indeed to have this moment of pure bliss.  As we headed back to pack up the kayaks, we saw more people coming to the lake to enjoy this sunny, warm Friday on a favorite lake.  Ah, the joy of those perfect fall days! 

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From Campbell River, we headed north, and this time went all the way up to Port Hardy.  This is where the ferry to Prince Rupert pulls in and I had never been.  The scenery was lovely all the way up – typical of the island.  Trees, trees, some glimpses of water and more trees.  However, we broke the long drive up by stopping here and there before finally reaching the town.  We were saddened to see so many stores closed – signs that the boom times were long gone from this place.  However, it seems that other activities, such as tourism are slowly coming and breathing life into this beautiful place.  We picked up some candied salmon from the Hardy Buoys store at the old mall.  It is one of two businesses open there now, the other being a cannabis shop – go figure!  From there we made our way to the Wildwoods campground to spend a night by shores of Hardy Bay. 

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The following day we made our way south back to Port McNeil where we caught the ferry over to Alert Bay on Cormorant Island.  We had reservations at the Nimpkish Hotel for that night.  I had seen ads for this picturesque inn many times before when looking for accommodations but had not wanted to add the extra ferry ride to our travels.  This time, as we had nothing but time, we decided to take the plunge and spend a day or two on this small island.  We were welcomed by our hosts and shown to our room, a small but comfortable space I had booked online.  Looking back, I wished I had splurged for the ocean view room because the water views were pretty spectacular!  Oh well, another reason to come back.  Nimpkish Hotel is just a lovely, lovely place, filled in antique furniture and old charm.  Breakfast was included and we had intended to give ourselves a treat by dining out at the attached restaurant that night.  However, we found out that at this time of year, the restaurant was closed on Sundays and Mondays – oops! However, our hosts offered the use of the barbeque on the deck, so our plans changed to burgers on the barbie – perfect!  As we had plenty of time before dinner, we had a little wander through town where I spotted a shop selling some beautiful things created by island artists.  I had been looking for a new wallet and so chose one by Andy Everson, who was born in Comox, just down island from here.  As it turns out, his mother was from Alert Bay, so there was a family connection – so nice! 

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Later, after a refreshing nap, we made our dinner and enjoyed the cool, but still enjoyable deck.  It was a fantastic spot for dinner and did not cost us a dime!   

In the morning, we came down to a lovely breakfast laid out in the sunroom, a narrow room at the back of the inn, where we enjoyed a great breakfast and an even better view.  I don’t think there are any bad views from this place!   

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As we finished and checked out, we asked our hosts about spots to put our kayaks into the water.  We had been a little uncertain about kayaking over here, knowing that further out were some significant currents that our little boats were not designed to paddle in.  However, we were assured that if we stayed near shore, we would be fine.  There was a spot just down the street from the inn and so we jumped at the opportunity to get out and paddle on the clear, calm waters around us.  We started off paddling near the Nimpkish Hotel and its surrounding docks, where Jim tried his hand at some more artistic shots taken from under the pylons while I stayed on the outside, watching him carefully!   

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Seeing that the water was truly calm and easy to paddle in, we then headed back and around the end of the island.  We easily threaded our way through some kelp before getting to a spot past where the last houses were located.  Here, we kept hearing loud spouts, and knew there must be whales nearby.  We sat quietly and were soon rewarded with the sight of first the spouting water from the whale’s blowholes, and then the whales themselves.  Although too far away for us to take pictures with our phones, we still sat for at least 30 minutes, just enjoying spotting first the spout and then the whales breaching in the area between our island and Malcom Island, just across from us.  It was both exhilarating and peaceful to sit on that calm, flat water and watch these whales do their thing.  What a truly special time it was for us, and we were hard pressed to finally turn our kayaks around and head back to shore.   

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After stowing the kayaks back on top of the van, we drove to the other end of the town to the U’mista Cultural Centre.  This is a tiny but amazing place.  For a small fee, we were able to walk through and read some of ancient stories told by the original people of this land, the ‘Namgis people.  While we were allowed to take pictures of the many cultural displays, both modern and ancient, the most interesting section was a “no photography” zone.  The reason for this is this area houses around 100 masks which had been taken from these people and surrounding tribes over the years, but were now returned, hence the name U’mista, which means “return of our treasures”.  Normally, masks are very private and belong a family, only to be used for ceremonial purposes.  However, the people decided that once these items had been returned to them from museums all over the world, they should not be shut away any longer. The displays were just stunning and the explanations for each mask so interesting.  We could have spent several hours there, just viewing these masks.  If you are interested, you can do a virtual tour at www.umistapotlatch.ca/visite_virtualtour.ca, although I highly recommend going to see them in person! 

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Further into the museum, we came upon a small but oh so powerful display devoted to the children taken from their families during the horrible time of residential schools.  As you may know, today the unmarked graves of over 2800 children have been located at the former sites of residential schools across Canada, with many more still to be found.  It is a shameful memory for Canadians but, more importantly, a very painful and still fresh loss for the First Nations People across this country.  In every town we have been to this year, we have seen memorials to these lost children, and it is just heartbreaking to see.  Here, at U’mista, there are photos of some of the children who were taken to the residential school which originally stood just behind where the cultural centre is today.  The photos were taken by a young girl whose parents gave her a camera so that she could take pictures of her friends while she was away at “school.”  I cannot even imagine the pain and agony of those families, having their children ripped away from them and their culture stolen.  So much has been lost.  However, this centre, which with its very name centers around celebrating return, gives hope that this resilient people, and the many other First Nations around this country, will regain their history, their language and their culture and be celebrated for both who they were and who they are today.   

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At the end of this emotional visit, we stopped at the one restaurant in town that seemed to be open.  We went in and the gentle elderly owner kindly served us lunch, even though, we found out later, they were supposed to be closed for their own break.  How kind people can be, and how appreciated was their kindness! 

Later, high upon a hill, we found the Alert Bay Campground where we intended to spend our second night on the island.  We parked the van and needing to stretch our legs a bit, walked one of the trails which led us back to the beach where we had seen whales earlier in the day.  And what do you think we saw?  More whales, of course!  We were able to see these ones a little more clearly and so identified them as Minke whales.  There were a couple of them spouting not too far offshore, so Jim was able to grab a few pictures.  However, when we saw the whales earlier, we knew there was at least one Orca out there, as the huge dorsal fin was easy to spot even from far away.  What a fantastic day!!! 

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The next day rain was in the forecast and so we used it as a travel day, heading slowly towards Port Alice.  This end of Vancouver Island is near where the first season of Alone was filmed – very remote! And no, we never did see any bears, wolves, or cougars, although I am quite sure they were out there! Our first stop was at the Marble River Recreation Site.  These Rec sites are all over the province and the charge for staying is either minimal or free.  They are a bit more remote and rustic than more established campgrounds (remember to bring your own supplies for the outhouse!) but they can be pretty fantastic.  At this time of year there are not as many folks out camping, and so we were able to find a space near the river where we would be lulled to sleep later by the sounds of the rushing water.  It was a perfect spot!  The river flows from Alice Lake and this was our next kayaking destination.  Our plan was to spend the next day kayaking on the north end of the lake, spend the night and then head in to Port Alice the following day to catch up on news and plan the next few days.  There are several other Rec sites along Alice Lake and Victoria Lake just south of it – so much kayaking to do!!! 

After a restful, quiet night, we drove the short distance to the boat launch and got the kayaks ready to put into the water.  Just as we were getting ready to set out, a shower opened up!  Thinking it would be just a quick one, we sat in the van and played a couple of hands of cards and sure enough, the sun soon reappeared, and we were able to launch.  The north end of Alice Lake begins in a tiny lake, opens to a slightly larger one and then finally opens into the big lake.  We enjoyed the glass smooth water and peaceful stillness of the lake, paddling slowly and drinking in the beauty around us.  There was one other boat out on the lake – a couple fishing and we waved as we passed by them on our way to the large lake.  Here, we paddled along, often stopping to just sit in our boats and let the quiet sink in. What a glorious way to enjoy nature!  As we moved further out, we noticed some clouds begin to appear and it soon became apparent that we were in for another shower or two.  Sadly, we decided to cut this paddle short and turned to head back.  Although we did get a little wet, it was never too hard or too cold.  Eventually we made it back to the van and loaded the kayaks back up.  We ended our day as we had begun it, sitting at our lovely campsite, enjoying the sounds of the Marble River rushing by us.  So very peaceful.  It would be a little sad to head into town tomorrow and be back in contact with the rest of the world, but Jim had a doctor’s appointment to keep and there were more sites yet to come. 

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The following morning, we ate our breakfast and then headed up to Port Alice, about 45 minutes away.  This is another town ravaged by the downturn in the lumber industry several years ago.  Like Port Hardy, there are few services (the one gas station we only found by asking around – it didn’t even look like a gas station!).  However, they do have a great little coffee shop where we enjoyed a hot coffee while logging in to see what was going on.  Unfortunately for us, what was going on was a turn in the weather forecast.  We had known to expect a day or two of rain, but the weather warning that came into our phones made us aware that this was going to be more than just a little rain.  Rats!!!  We had to make a decision and knowing that staying in the van for 2 days of heavy rain would not be a great idea, we decided to head back towards home.  The plan became, put the boats in the water for a quick paddle in the Port, then head to Campbell River for the night.  At least we would be past the most remote roads by the time the big weather hit, and home and dry the next day.  

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As it turns out, it was a good decision.  Overnight, the rain and wind came blowing into Campbell River and our little van was buffeted around all night.  In the morning, we checked to make sure the kayaks were secure on top and then headed back to Nanaimo. When we got home, we discovered which way the wind and rain had been blowing all night as one kayak was fine but the other had about 5 inches of water in it!  We hope to get out again for a quick trip to the southern end of the island before the weather gets too cold, but for now, we are snug at home.  It is nice to have a warm, dry place to lay our heads!