Hornby and Denman Islands

Just got back from vacation. It was awesome! 

First we went to Hornby Island for camping. It was the first time for our new tent.

It was super simple to set up. We love it, it's so roomy and has a vestibule for our shoes. Imagine.
 

We stayed in a private campground which we don't normally visit. But this one was steps away from an amazing beach so we gave it a try.

Woah. Totally worth it. This was one of the nicest beaches I've visited out here. 

Got up early and caught the low tide. We spent a few hours exploring. The rest of the time we spent either relaxing in the campsite...gin and tonic....

 ...or exploring other hikes and walks around the island. This is the best way to chill - hang out in nature. We are so lucky to live here.

 Then we visited another beach that was like something from Star Trek Original Series. 

At one point we were looking in a tide pool and something big frantically started splashing under one of the big rocks. "What the - ? Is something evolving under there!?"

Then we visited Denman Island for three nights in a cabin on the water.

There was a great walk we could do from the tip of Denman Island to Tree Island when the tide was out.  This photo is looking south towards Denman Island from the beach at Tree Island.

Brad convinced me to wear my bathing suit. I don't usually swim in the ocean - it's way too cold. But it was a hot day so we did it - it was so refreshing coming out of the water. And there were tons of little jelly fish swimming around us.

I learned that if I put my phone on airplane mode I can last three days on one charge - and that's with taking tons of photos.

This will become the norm for me now while I'm away. Who needs emails about work coming in when you're hiking or hanging out on a beach!?

Little Tent

We love camping. Before I even met Brad, this guy I worked with offered me a tent for forty bucks. I bought it right then without even looking at it.

It's been our little tent ever since and....ahem - trust me it's been a long time.

After we moved to the island we didn't camp for a few years because....well, remember the chainsaw enemas?

So last summer we finally got back into camping and couldn't believe we had gone so long without going.  This summer we've gone more often and it's been really fun.

Last weekend a storm blew through here and guess where we were? We knew it was coming so we weren't concerned. We have tarps and a good tent with a fly. No problem!

The first night I woke up to the rain - it was super loud and heavy. I didn't mind being awake, listened to the rain for a while.....then I put my arm on the outside of my sleeping bag and realized it was totally wet.

The tent was leaking!?

I wasn't wet myself but by the morning things had gotten pretty soaked. Our pillows were dripping, the tent was a mess, sleeping bags, clothes, mats....you get it. We had to cut our trip short and go home.

Before we left we managed to hang stuff up to dry out. Unfortunately our tent ended up blowing into the bushes at one point.

Well at least it knows how to go out with a bang.

(This totally looks like an advertisement, but that's our little tent in action!)

Today we wandered into three shops looking for a new one. We found two that were excellent contenders and decided on one. It's massive compared to our old one. I feels like a bachelor pad!

We're heading out on Tuesday to try it out.

Gin and Camping

You guys.

We have found the best drink.

Get this four-pack of tonic. It comes in four different flavours. They are yummy even on their own but who would?!

It's the perfect drink for camping. Just measure your gin, add ice (if you have it, we weren't always so fortunate) and it's ready.

Our summer camping was ramped up this year. We have one more trip to go but we had a mishap last weekend. Another post entirely.

French Beach

When we were planning everything that we wanted to do this summer, camping was pretty high on our radar.

Remember this? I wonder if those guys ever got their well deserved chainsaw enemas.

We finally replaced all our camping gear so nothing was stopping us. We chose one of our favourite places, French Beach. 

I couldn't wait to see the trees and just sit quietly near them. I had an extreme urge to just be in nature. It felt amazing when we got there to sit in the sun and have lunch. And lunch was fairly typical - pre-cut goodies with Hawkins Cheezies and beer.

Who wouldn't want to curl up and fall asleep in this tent?! This is the first time I used my new sleeping bag and it was fantastic.

We spent a few hours on the beach, always so relaxing and gorgeous. French Beach isn't a typical sandy beach, it's covered with lots of big smooth rocks with a small sandy beach when the tide is out. I love it, it's such an interesting place.
 

That night Brad convinced me to walk down to the beach. It takes convincing because there are werewolves and it's scary and my flashlight sometimes plays tricks on me. The only thing we saw were bats and actually they were pretty cool.

When we were down there, we looked back towards the campsite and saw this.

You know how your brain fires a thousand thoughts a second? Well, in that second we both thought the forest was totally on fire. The moon was a super moon - 30% brighter than normal. Unfortunately because of this it didn't seem worth it to get up in the night to see the meteor shower.

The next morning we had a yummy breakfast which included coffee in enamel mugs. So. Damn. Good. Holy crap it was awesome in every way.

I feel strangely recharged and more energized since we got back. Like I've been reacquainted with an old friend. I wish we had more time to go again this summer.

More Sailing

We went sailing again! Same place - Portland Island which is one of my favourite places. We arrived, anchored and had lunch - here is a picture!


Then we set up the tent where Brad and I camped. The exact same spot as last time!

We hung out on the boat and played Killer Bunnies until it was dark, so that meant another scary walk through the forest to our tent. So we're walking along, I'm feeling nervous but not too bad and I'm negotiating myself down a little hilly section and *click*.....

Mother f*#!er!!!!

My Maglite bulb burned out again. *

Which meant that at our stop at the outhouse I had to wait in the dark again. It was partly cloudy this time though so the UFOs couldn't get a good beam on me. To distract myself I looked straight up at the stars through a super narrow opening in the trees and saw a satellite! What are the chances?!

That night I woke up to a scratching sound on the side of the tent. In my sleepy state I thought "Stop it Ziggy!" but then realized....it wasn't Ziggy. I laid in the tent wide eyed....(there are no bears on the island so I wasn't scared)....then saw a little mouse-shaped shadow scurry off the top of the tent, slide down the front and run off...

There were also the usual noises - seals slapping and splashing, raccoons coo-ing, herons making dinosaur noises, then seriously annoying people up at 6:30am not making a single attempt to be quiet. I guess we're all on their schedule.

We sat around in the sun and read (me: David Sedaris, Brad - The History of Cuba, C. - The Old Curiosity Shop - Dickens), napped on the boat, had dinner (veggie stir fry) and had tons of laughs.

*This is interesting since last time the bulb died I was using Brad's Maglite, this time I was using my own.

Sailing!

We went sailing last weekend! My good friend C. invited us.

We started out early on Saturday morning and bought all the food we would need for two days....uh...$190 worth? One bag of cookies each? A $12 dollar block of cheese? (Actually I've always wanted to buy one those...)

Once we set out the waves were "big" and it was foggy and I got scared. I've been on this boat a bunch of times but we've never had much wind so this was new. I think I asked about 83 questions in 3 minutes
"What does that thingie do?"
"What happens if that boat crashes into us?"
"Is it normal for the boat to tip this far?"
"How is that mast bolted down?"

The water smoothed out and we decided that rather than head towards our destination (which was super far away) we should cut our trip short and go to one of my favourite places - Portland Island.

We anchored and we had lunch on the boat, went for a walk, slept and read on the boat and ended our first day with a round of Killer Bunnies. Perfect.

Brad and I camped on the island, C. slept on the boat. This meant that when we finished dinner and games Brad and I had to walk back to the tent. With flashlights. In the dark.

Yeah, I get the heebies. I get them bad. Even in my own house. And we're on an island in the middle of nowhere and it's seriously DARK.

Once we found our way back to the tent we wanted to use the outhouse. Ummm.....have you seen that episode of X-Files with the monster that ends up in the outhouse!? It's damaged me for life. So Brad went first! While he was in there I was left outside of the outhouse with my flashlight. Alone.

So I stood there trying to shine the flashlight in every single direction at once, sure that a werewolf was going to jump out at me any second.

Click.

The flashlight went out. Seriously.

It was just like a horror movie. So instead of screaming and waking up the other campers I waited for the UFO beam to blast down and beam me up. Or the werewolf to jump out and get me.

****

The next day we did the same stuff - hiking, beaches, lunches, Crib and lots and lots of visiting. That night we walked back to our tent just before it got dark so we could avoid the midnight walk. We watched the sunset from inside our tent.

We were right on the water which made for some interesting sounds in the night. Seals make the most mental sounds and throw themselves around in the water all night. There were otters too. The only other monsters on the island were a pack of three baby raccoons that ransacked our neighbours campsite for food.We took the long way home and sailed most of the way. The ferry passed us at one point and I gained a whole new respect for them.

Those things are FAST, and put up with a lot of bullshit from small boaters. We made extra sure to get the hell out of the way, I was glad to hear that being run over by one is one of C's worst nightmares.