Up early to fit in a FaceTime link with family back home and to catch the ferry.
Waiting at the dockside in the early morning sunshine.
Comox (Little River) to Powell River Ferry.
A smooth ride with no wildlife sightings this time. Ninety minutes later we embark at Powell River, do our usual drive to information booth to pick up yet more maps, and then on to a small fishing village called Lund. Lots of adventures into Desolation Sound Marine Protected Reserve run from here, but unfortunately no time for one of these today. Lund has the honour of being at the Mile 0 point of Highway 101 down the entire west coast of Canada, in the same way as Route 101 runs the whole way down the west coast of the US, although according to Wikipedia the two do not actually connect. Whilst according to the man in the tourist office - the Highway 101 starting in Lund runs as far as South America - you choose.
Here's Eric at the start point in Lund.
The marina at Lund was quite pretty.
and we had a picnic (in the sunshine) outside the Harbour Master's Office (who was a lady). There's another world famous bakery here, but it did not get the thumbs up from us I'm afraid. There was a sea boardwalk around the marina that passed a tiny watermill.
Also saw a Stellar's Jay here.
Eric admiring the flowers at the marina.
Returning to Powell River for a stroll on Willingdon Beach we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking the pulp mill, which is as evocative as it sounds.
They used old concrete hulled ships built during the Second World War, because of the shortage of steel. However they were unable to carry sufficient loads to be economically viable after the war, so were used as a breakwater.
Eric catching some rays and checking out the beach.
On the beach we noticed a gull that looked like it had something stuck in it's beak. When we took a photo to see what it was, it turned out to be a starfish. The gull spent about 20min seemingly just sat there with it in it's mouth before being harassed by two juveniles and losing it's booty to one of them.
Before the juvenile raid.
Checked out the shops in downtown Powell River, managing not to spend anything, and returned to the beach for an ice-cream. Only had one between us as they were huge - this is called one scoop!
It was only $2 and yet the sourdough bread we had for our picnic was $6.99.
We are staying in the Historic District of Powell River in what used to be the old court and administration building. It's very old and quite interesting (you can read into this what you like). As we pulled up we could see pictures of Basil and Sybil Fawlty painted on window spaces over-looking the car park.
Not quite sure what to expect next. Reviews of this 'boutique hotel' checked out before we departed from our holiday did warn of it's 'old charm' and it certainly lived up to that. One night is probably enough. Our room has magnificent views of the aforementioned pulp mill, and you have to clip the curtains together with a hair gripper if you want it darker in the morning! On the positive side the people seem very friendly and the bed comfy. The first one we've stayed in that we would not recommend.
Now off to find somewhere to eat tonight to prepare us for the next ferry journey tomorrow.
P.S For those anxious to know what the additional fruit was - it was a plum.