April 22, 2005

April 22, 2005

Saltery Bay Provincial Park to Porpoise Bay Provincial Park, B.C.

DAY 309

 

Another sunny, warm day.

Since we had a choice between catching a ferry at 11:15 A.M. and another at 12:25 P.M., I decided I had some time this morning to get a couple of minor maintenance chores done. If I finished quickly, we'd catch the earlier ferry, and if it took a bit longer, we'd catch the later ferry. I did my regular preventive maintenance, then a couple more little jobs. When I finished, at 11:10, Joanne checked the ferry schedule again. Damn ! I had misread the ferry schedule. From Saltery Bay to Earl's Cove, the ferry leaves at 11:20 A.M. and 3:30 P.M. It was now 8 minutes until the ferry departed, the trailer slides were still extended, and we were a kilometre from the ferry terminal. We decided it wasn't even worth the effort to try ! We'd just go on the 3:30 ferry. So I decided to do the last little maintenance job I had left, which was to replace the license plate light bulb socket. I got the necessary tools and materials, crawled under the truck, cut off the old, corroded license plate light bulb socket, and realized that the replacement socket I bought yesterday in Powell River was the wrong type. Damn ! ! !

All this time, as we were going in and out of the trailer, we were allowing Bo to go in and out without a leash. He behaved very well, and never left our campsite. We were so impressed with his new found "good dog" behaviour, and since we had time to kill, we took him on a no leash hike to Mermaid Cove. He never got too far in front of us, and always returned promptly when we whistled or called. Good dog, Bo ! At Mermaid Cove, the water level was much lower than it had been yesterday afternoon when we were there. I guess high tide is in the late afternoon, and low tide is in the morning. We explored all around the rocky shoreline, and discovered bright purple and bright orange star fish at the water's edge. They were a bit too far for either me or Bo to reach. They were resting on kelp covered boulders quite close to shore, and were particularly vivid when viewed from the cliffs above. We hiked back to the trailer for a late lunch, making the hike another off leash obedience training session for Bo.

After lunch, we drove back north on the Sunshine Coast Highway about a kilometre to the day use / picnic area part of Saltery Bay Provincial Park. We parked in theboat launch parking lot, then explored along the rocky shoreline and pebble beach. The oysters in this area were huge. The inside of the clams were a deep purple colour. We found a hiking trail leading through the forest, so we went for a short hike, until it was time to head for the ferry. We took the 50 minute ferry ride ( $134.05 please ) from Saltery Bay across Jervis Inlet and up Agamemnon Channel to Earl's Cove. Shortly after Earl's Cove, we turned off the highway, and went 6 km. up a back road to Skookumchuck Narrows at Egmont. We parked at Egmont, and started to hike to Skookumchuck Narrows when we realized it's a 4 km. hike. We were too tired, and it was too late in the day, to begin a 4 km. hike, when we still had no idea where we were going to spend the night. We went back to the truck, drove back to the highway, and continued south.

At Halfmoon Bay I again turned off the highway, and drove a short distance to the village. At the end of the road was a little general store, and ... well ... the end of the road ! I had little more than a 2 lane road to try to turn Harvey and Dee-Dee around. It was extremely difficult and stressful. Despite Joanne's assistance as a "spotter" I hit the store's eaves trough with the roof ladder on the back of the trailer. I punctured a hole in the plastic eaves trough. I finally managed to get the rig turned around, and went inside to apologize and pay for the damage. I wasn't a very happy camper, to say the least !

It was getting late, and we were tired and hungry and angry. We drove to Sechelt, to a private RV park we had picked out. We didn't like it, so we drove back 4 km. to Porpoise Bay Provincial Park. We found a good camp site, got backed in, and quickly barbecued a late supper.

DSK