Pacific Northwest - Day 8

Early mornings in the Pacific NW have a heavy moisture laden smell thick with sap and salty air.  It was great to be on a dock again, and about to head west.   I actually made the trip from Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada to Bamfield (the promotion map is here) aboard the MV FRANCES BARKLEY.  Departing at 8am, just stepping aboard was moving back a half century in marine transportation.  The rhythmic sound of the slow churning diesel was somehow soothing in its continuity.  You knew it was not going to stop.

The FRANCES BARKLEY stopped for all sorts of deliveries, small and large.  Some were just propane tanks the size of a BBQ unit, others were large loads of lumber and other materials.  All, mostly, unloaded neatly onto docks. I say "mostly" as I thought for a moment one slightly off balance load of wood was going to sink the end of a dock when the crane let it loose.  Only about 30 people inhabit Kildonan year round.  Even the dog was excited when the mail came.  We made all sorts of house calls here before making our final stop in Bamfield.

My GPS tracked our every move, and since we were largely off the map (mine mostly has road details) I didn't know quite what I was going to get.  However, imported into Google Earth it gave aerial details that early explorers could only have imagined, but certainly never believed possible.  Here is an overall view of our journey, and one detail where we are walking down the boardwalk in Bamfield to Judy's Boardwalk Bistro.  The wild salmon burgers are highly recommended, and the "box" of wine was drinkable and had that "fresh" feel to the palate.  Here is Steve on the right as we headed back towards the boardwalk and the ship for our 2pm departure.

Steve and I traveled 87 miles yesterday, just under 80 of which was aboard ship.  Click here for the Google Map of Day 8. It was a nice change of pace.  No whales, but one bear and a few bald eagles were sighted.  I got a bit of each on HD video.

After dinner at the Clam Bucket in Port Alberni we decided to head to Tofino tomorrow.