Port Hardy Here We Come

Along time back, well maybe only about six months ago, Steve targeted Port Hardy (located on Vancouver Island) British Columbia as a destination spot for our adventure. It seems they are one of the fishing capitals in the world for ocean/river fishing. Don’t know why he would want to come here???!!!

To get to Vancouver Island one must journey to a ferry terminal. We left Libby on July 8^th with the goal of being on the ferry on July 10^th. We were able to actually get to Tsawwassen to take the ferry a day earlier than planned. So we had time to sit and relax after driving quite a bit for two days and found this recreation area nearby to hang out.

 

We ferried over and spent the night of the 9^th at Campbell River. This is a pretty area and a fairly nice sized town. Funny thing as we met a couple from Campbell River when we spent the night of July 8^th in Princeton British Columbia. They were really nice and gave us some great places to be sure and check out while we are on the island.

We left Campbell River in the morning and continued our adventure to Port Hardy. We stopped along the way for lunch. We picked a nice rest area and wouldn’t you know it Izzy discovered water down the hill. I wonder if we can turn her into a dog that can witch for water underground!!

Getting dried off

Movin' on after lunch break

We arrived at our destination the afternoon of July 10^th. The campground is the Quatse River Salmon recovery Centre and Campground and is along the Quatse river. Lucky for Izzy to have her own swimming hole.  Since it's a fish hatchery maybe I could practice my fly fishing too!

The area is beautiful and the town is small and definitely a port town. Steve being the shy fellow he is was able to open up long enough to get connected with someone that enjoys fishing as much as he does. The good part about this is he owns a boat. Go figure!

So we met Jim and his dog Scooter. Needless to say we didn’t waste any time getting into the boat to go fishing. Our first day out was Friday and quite successful. We brought in five fish to the boat, all Chinook (also called springers and kings) and Coho. Yummy! It is too bad we didn’t get all of the ones we hooked into the boat. But we wouldn’t have been able to keep all of them anyway unless we got Scooter a fishing license too!

Getting ready to go fishing

Captain Jim and First Mate Scooter

Steve and I actually did go fishing on Thursday from the dock. We caught a few of these wonderful looking creatures and decided since they were so interesting we didn’t want to keep them!

There are several trails from the campground that you can walk or ride your bike on so one day we decided to go for a bike ride to the marina. We ran into Jim there as he was pulling in with his boat and his boss. We sat and visited with them for a bit and then headed back to our camp.  The trail was wide enough in some spots we could ride side-by-side. Unfortunately I being the talented klutz that I am found a spot that had a nice low branch encroaching into the trail which I had to skillfully avoid. My skills are so good that I had to sacrifice myself so I wouldn’t run into Steve’s back tire. So yap you guessed it I gracefully had a bike accident. Lucky for me all those years of being a klutz paid off and I was able to fall correctly and not damage my bike or me for that matter. Good thing to as Izzy wasn’t there to kiss any scrapes and make them better!

We have been exploring and checking out the different sites. We went to an area called Telegraph Cove which has about only 3 residents during the winter.  However this time of year there are quite a few people hanging around. It is a beautiful spot and filled with history of WWII and the establishment of the telegraph in order to let the country know if there was any enemy activity going on. Besides being known for the telegraph, the town is a fishing and logging community.  We had lunch overlooking the marina and wandered around and toured their whale museum. The museum is great and has quite the variety of bones on display, and is a great place for an education on these creatures as well as other. It’s also built above the water so if you look through the cracks in the floor you see the water.

An old Dodge at Telegraph Cove

The view from the dock

Part of the marina at Telegraph Cove

  

Jim and Scooter accompanied us one day for a tour to Port Alice and the Marble River. We stopped at one of the lakes for a picnic. Of course Izzy had to go swimming.

Waiting for a stick to be thrown

 

The Marble River is quite well known for its trout fishing ability and we stopped on the bridge and even spotted a couple of Steel head. Pretty cool if you ask me.

The Marble River

 

On the way back to our home, Jim routed us to the southern part of Port Hardy. We stopped at this bay and spotted this old boat. It is has been here quite a while so I think we might be able to buy it pretty cheap if we want!

We might be able to afford this boat

Jim and Tory

Deep in conversation

 

Jim took us out fishing again this week to a different spot than we fished the last time. We had a great day and brought back more fish! Scooter decided to hang out with me for a bit of the boat ride as we did some touring of the Gordon Group islands. At the end of Vancouver Island is Cape Scott and this lighthouse which is still staffed.  We didn’t realize how many islands there are off of British Columbia’s mainland. You could spend a lot of time island hopping up here.

 

 

Scooter found the best spot!

Cape Scott Lighthouse

Guess what's for dinner?

We hadn’t been fishing for halibut yet so we arranged to go on Thursday (July 18) with one of the local guides. We had to wake up at 0400 for this little trip. Made me feel like I was back at work! We struck out on getting even a nibble from a halibut or any other bottom fish, but did manage to hook three more salmon.  Steve caught the biggest one which was around 25 pounds when we were shooting for halibut.  It didn’t matter to us since we kind of like salmon.

Steve won the biggest fish for the day

We haven’t given up on trying to catch some of those funny looking bottom fish so we will find another day to try again.

We will be checking out the festivities this weekend here as they have an annual event called the Filomi days. It stands for fishing, logging and mining since those are the three primary things that happen in this neck of the woods. 

We will be moving to another RV spot on Sunday which is pretty sweet. We get to have a gorgeous view of the mountains and the golf course at the same time!  You know what that means don’t you? Yap, we get to chase the little white thing some as well as the little things that swim!! Heaven help us! More to come from Port Hardy!