B.C. - Powell River, Sunshine Coast - Julie's, Willington Beach trail, Sea Lions and Otters.

 I just went through my pictures for today. After culling (out of focus, duplicates etc) there were still over 100 photos (OK, I'm a real sucker for Otters). So this post may be broken in to two, I'll see how it goes.

We woke to rain and fog. The proprietor of Salty's Lobster Shack (A while back in the blog) had recommended Nancy's bakery at Lund (well deserved!) and Julie's Airport Cafe. So we decided to try Julie's for breakfast. Turns out Salty's recommendations were better than his lobster rolls.

Julie's is next to the airport and the walls are covered in paintings, stencils, carvings and photos of aircraft.

 

The ceiling is hung with models

and there is airplane memorabilia everywhere,

including on the tables and

and at the check out.

The menu items have plane names.

 I had the Piper and Rick had the Pilot and neither of us could finish them.

 The forecast said that the rain would stop in the afternoon so I decided to do some painting in the morning. Unfortunately I discovered that the pad of paper that I had bought with me was not for watercolour paint.

I ended up doing a pen and ink sketch of the Harbour Seal at Lund.

 

As there was a container of pencil crayons on the coffee table,

I used them to add in a bit of colour.

Rick had bought a sketch pad with him so I started a watercolour on a sheet of paper from that.

By now it had stopped raining so we drove downtown, parked and walked into Willingdon Beach.

Truth and Reconciliation Day was 2 days ago

and the event had been marked here, 

and the orange shirts were still hung on the trees.

There were a couple of Harlequin Ducks in the water here. I don't think I have ever seen one of these in the wild before.

There is a camp site here, which we walked through and then set out, beside the shoreline, on the trail.

Flat and gravel, it was an easy walk though large trees,

moss and ferns

and a collection

of old

forestry equipment.

Each with an explanation

of how it had been utilized.

Douglas Squirrel, much smaller than the Ontario ones.

At this point we could have continued on the road (we came back that way) but instead

headed down to the beach.

Looking back towards Powell River

and on towards First Beach.

We could hear the barking of the Sea Lions clearly from here

and walking along the beach we could see that there were a lot of them

on the breakwall now.

The pictures of Sea Lions, Harbour Seals and River Otters will have to wait. We have to catch the early ferry to Vancouver Island tomorrow and I need to get packed tonight. So.....to be continued.

B.C. - Lund, Sunshine Coast

We woke today to gray skies and some liquid sunshine. We didn't have big plans, just a drive up the coast and maybe a hike. We put the hike idea on hold, not wanting to deal with slippery rocks and muddy boots.

Just north of Powell River is the Tla'amin Reserve. We pulled in at their salmon hatchery and as there was a school group in at the same time, were able to learn a bit more about the process.

 

The eggs are collected, hatched and fed to 3gram size, in round tanks and long cement tanks, before being released. 3 different kinds of salmon.

The adjoining river was teaming with them. We talked to one of the staff members who told us that a bear had been seen on their security camera this morning. He just waded in and helped himself.

Eating them whole at first and then as his hunger eased he would just eat the skin and the head, which have the most nutrients. Leaving the rest of the fish in the water or on the bank for the birds to finish off. We saw some of his leftovers, lying around.

I have a tendency, with no concrete destination or timeline, to just take random roads on a whim (Nicola will attest to this). This little harbour, Okeover Inlet, was a result of one of those whims.

An area primarily for working boats. There was also an oyster farm.

The previous day we had looked for local seafood at the grocery store but ended up having to buy Atlantic salmon - expensive but delicious, done on the BBQ with potatoes, onions and zucchini in garlic butter.

Lund is as far north as the Hwy goes. From here, going south it follows the west coast of Canada, then as Hwy 1, the west coast of the U.S.and down all the way to Argentina.

When ever we have mentioned visiting Lund we have been told to go to Nancy's bakery. Aside from a hotel, it is pretty well the only thing there.

It did not disappoint. Rick had a slice of pizza and we split a blueberry cinnamon roll (I ate most of it, in truth). We came home with a couple of cranberry orange scones.

Above is Pollen sweaters.

They are made locally from a wool (from Australia, via Germany) that is not itchy. They did feel lovely and soft.

We tried to walk off our lunch

around the harbour

and out on to the docks.

This Harbour Seal was in close.

Others were 

out beyond the breakwall. I went back to the car to get the binoculars

getting a shot of a Kingfisher while I was at it.

As I got back Rick turned to me and said "You shouldn't have gone" as he had seen whales, maybe 4 of them. He said they hadn't really broken the surface but he could see the bulk of them in the water. These are what he managed to get on the camera.

 

Not unequivocally whales but our most likely sighting so far.