On July 5th, I headed out of the house at 5:30 AM with Charlotte and Reed to catch the Anacortes ferry to Sydeny, BC. It was a beautiful morning, watching the sun rise and heading out into the San Juans and across the Gulf Islands in the calm waters. The three-hour ferry ride was a bit of a stretch for the kids, but they found ways to keep themselves entertained.
After arriving in Sydney, we drove south through Victoria, before heading north on Highway 1 up to Ladysmith, BC, just south of Nanaimo on the east coast of Vancouver Island. We were originally planning on camping somewhere in the Gulf Islands for this week, but after the challenges with Reed on the Sucia Island camping trip, we decided to book this condo at the last minute. It had amazing views of the Stuart Channel and Valdes Island. It also had a dock and we kept our Whaler there. Eben and Edison actually launched the Whaler at Lummi Point near Bellingham and took it 75 miles to Yellow Point where the condo was located. That was quite an adventure and we are glad they made it safely through the rough water patches.
The oceanfront pool and hot tub were the highlights of the condo for the kids (and probably us, too).
Day two: we headed east towards Valdes Island and was confronted by these amazing and massive sandstone cliffs.
The sandstone is so soft that the water has eroded it into these really interesting formations and caves.
Next, we headed to Degnen Bay on the southern end of Gabriola Island. We walked a couple miles to the site of petroglyphs that were thousands of years old and carved by the native island people.
This serpent was our favorite.
This bird was really cool, too.
Next stop: through Gabriola Passage, which is used for ferries and other boats traveling from Vancouver to the northern Gulf Islands. Then we headed up the coast of Gabriola Island a few miles to Silva Bay. It was very quiet on a Monday afternoon, but a perfect stop for ice creams.
We finished the day's explorations at Pirates Cove Marine Park on De Courcy Island. It is a tight cove coming in and sandstone shores on the Pirate Bay side. This trail then takes you over an isthmus to the sandier Wally's Bay in the shot below. There were beautiful madrona trees and spruce trees.
On our way back to the condo, we couldn't resist hopping off the boat on this beautiful sandy shoal.
Charlotte was hard at work on her Frozen Lego set as soon as we returned back. She did it all herself and it was great work on her part!
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