It had snowed again on Bowen Island. So we decided to hightail it somewhere more temperate: Vancouver Island. lol.
To do this, we had to take the ferry to Horseshoe Bay, then another ferry to Nanaimo. The timing was poor between these ferries, so we stopped in at Bay Moorings Bar & Grill for a beer.
Jan picked us up at the Nanaimo ferry and drove us the 35 mins to Nanoose Bay, where we met up with Matt and Mel. As usual, the holiday puzzle was already set out in the living room, and I plunked myself down in front of it.
While Mel stayed at the house, the rest of us went for a walk around the neighborhood to Beachcomber Regional Park, a one-acre park with beautiful views. It was maybe 2.5 km in total, mostly flat, except some very short inclines in the park itself.
At the corner of Cockle Shell Rd and Reef Way, Jan stopped to right a neighbor's deer lawn ornaments. It was strange seeing a house there, after so many years of that location simply being a treed lot, where eagles liked to frequent. My screensaver on my PC is still a fantastic photo I snapped of of an eagle alighting on a tree in that property.
Funnily enough, my cell phone had popped up a "Rediscover this day" with that exact eagle photo on it!!
As we zigzagged down Pilot Way, I had half a memory that Elvis Costello and Diana Krall lived somewhere right around there.
But I digress... When we reached Reef Rd we turned left.
Here's a wonderful Arbutus tree reaching out towards the street from someone's yard.
We actually had quite an "animal adventure" on this walk. Here, we passed two deer, lazing about on a lawn. Although Bowen Island was said to be the birthplace of the deer, certainly Vancouver Island also has its share. ;)
Next I saw a whale and some seahorses. Ok ok, not real ones, but the neighborhood was certainly into maritime decor. ;)
The gates on the house to the left of the same "driveway" were covered in nautical floats, crab traps, fishing poles, and a decorative iron heron taking flight (click on image to enlarge).
I chatted with Jan, as we walked along this stretch. Matt and Colin walked together ahead of us. Still enjoying all the nautically themed decor, I spotted a lighthouse on an address sign on the right side of the road, in the photo below.
Here is where the road becomes Marina Way, which loops in a circle around then end of the Peninsula.
We stopped in to visit Jan's friend Nancy, but she was not home that day. Her yard was decorated with shiny red Christmas balls and other ornaments, but it was missing the crisp white contrast of the snow behind them. Not that we were missing the snow, at the moment! ;) It was actually pretty nice to walk on clear ground in the sunshine.
Here's a better photo of the views that many houses on this street enjoyed.
As we turned the corner, where the road curves around the end of the peninsula, an eagle flew over our heads.
The trailhead had a pit toilet, a garbage can, some signage, a map, and a list of "DON'Ts," including my favorite: no shooting Christmas trees! XD
We decided to make a look around the outside of the park (our path marked in blue dots). The tan-colored parts of the map are the locations where tides alter the coastline.
(This is a screenshot of the map found on the RDN website.
You can download the original at
So I'll please you with a photo that Jan's friend Karen took some 10 days before, near her house on Reef Rd.
The tide was fairly high on the beach, meaning we couldn't wander too far out, but it was still lovely. Due to its location on the tip of a peninsula, the park offers great views of the mountains on the Mainland, as well as the Northern Gulf Islands and up the coast of Vancouver Island.
Unfortunately, as Colin and Matt made their way along the beach ahead of me and Jan, Colin slipped on some uncollected dog poo, and he fell to the ground. He was not hurt, but his pants were now covered in excrement. We all were reminded of poor Mel's dog poo experience in Lyon, when she just stepped out of her poo-covered shoes and left them there in the middle of the street. Don't do that Colin! She had extra shoes in her bag-- you don't!
As we rounded the corner, there were many seagulls, and many bald eagles! These ones were kind enough to let me photograph them. :)
Colin didn't let his mishap dampen his spirits too much, and called out that he saw fins in the water. Jan said there had been some grey whales there recently, but as we peered out for a glimpse, we realized that these were sea lions. We had seen sea lions from this park before, and sometimes they will follow hikers all the way around the point, periodically popping up for air and making sure that their new "friends" are still there. If you click the photo below to enlarge it, you can see just a ripple of water where the sea lion was re-submerging, just as I pressed "capture" on my camera. I got this other potato-quality one with my cell phone.
Across the bay, a tugboat was pulling a load past a large group of sea lions perched on a log boom. I could barely make them out, even with my camera zoom, but we could sure hear them. ;)
Next, we passed a dead sea lion on the beach. I had never seen one so close before!
Climbed up to where Colin's father's ashes were spread. There was a nice bench there to sit and look out at the view. Today we didn't sit, but continued on the trail.
On a quirky little coincidence, my cell phone popped up with "Rediscover this day": 8 years ago, the same gang was taking the same walk... but Colin's father was with us.
We said a little "hello" to Colin's father, then continued on the trail around the corner to head back out of the park.
This side of the park has a nice sheltered bay, that people use to swim in the summer months. Matt's dog Maggie didn't much care, and straggled behind everyone else. I slowed down to keep her company and make sure she didn't get lost on a side trail.
Jan mentioned that many of the smaller side-trails would be "filled in" soon. Apparently, it caused too much damage to the park to have people roaming around through the brush.
At the fork in the trail, the group took the left trail, which was far less steep.
I paced Maggie, giving her encouragement to keep her going.
She made it! Back at the trailhead, we caught up with the others, and then turned right onto Marina Way.
We immediately passed a little gravel parking area, with a more substantial park sign.
More eagles soared overhead, as we passed a viewspot off to the right of the road.
And a terrified little bunny, maybe hiding from said eagles!
Getting closer to the intersection with Cockle Shell Rd, where we started, a hedge was festooned with red bows.
First stop was at the Cornerstone Cafe and Taphouse. We tried to order food, but it never came. The beer was top rate though. It's too bad we couldn't get some food in our bellies, because we had a couple of brewery stops on our itinerary. From what I read online, this restaurant had some service issues. Too bad we didn't realize that before waiting nearly 90 mins to (not) get our soup and charcuterie plate, with the server continually lying to us that "it was already made" just so we wouldn't leave.
Fortunately, it was time for Gladtone Brewing to open, and we sauntered down to it.
Could these scene be any more Canadian? ;)
We squeezed ourselves into a communal table-- well, all except Mel, who, as the designated driver, decided she'd rather go shopping than watch us drink.
I saw that they were selling small mason jars of mixed nuts, so I got one, to appease my belly and hopefully thwart over-drunkenness caused by lack of food.
We started out ordering pints, but when I saw how cute the sampler tray was, we had to order one, to try the "heavier" beers, which included an 8.8% imperial IPA and a 11.5% imperial porter. By the time we left, I believe we had sampled every beer on the board. They were all great!
(click image to enlarge)
On the drive back to Nanoose Bay, we stopped at Cumberland Brewing.
I tried the Finally IPA, which was spectacular!! This small tasting room was also packed, and when I was about half way down my beer, it got knocked over, spilling everywhere. The bartender was really gracious, waved off my profuse apologies, and brought me a new beer.
Well, I had to admit that I probably didn't need that extra beer, and headed to bed as soon as we got home.
The next day taking the ferry home was a little frustrating, as I had to watch Bowen Island pass by us so close I felt I could touch it... on our way to Horseshoe Bay, where we would have to wait for our second ferry to actually take us home.
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