Road trip on Vancouver Island and Goodbye Canada

Our last entry ended with the ordeal of hours of waiting for the ferry. We were then rewarded, at least somewhat, with great light conditions at dusk on the water and the islands off the mainland. At half past 11 we arrived in Nanaimo with VERY great hunger. So before we looked for a place to sleep right on the water, a bit remote from the city center, we first drove to the nearest supermarket parking lot with some lights to "cook" instant noodles there :D

We started our time on Vancouver Island with breakfast on the beach the next morning and spent a day at the beach in Parksville.
A great beach where we were able to see many sea animals such as mussels and crabs at low tide and there were also a few seals swimming in the water.
We then reached our end point for this day in Qualicum Beach a few kilometers further, as we found a beach shower there that gave us the necessary refreshment after a sunset swim :)
For the first time we had a sleeping spot right on the water, which we shared with other campers.
Vancouver Island already feels like a wonderful summer vacation.

The start of the next day was wonderful again. We had perfect sunshine overlooking the sea!
First we drove to the well-known spot at Qualicum Beach to have a leisurely breakfast in the sun. After that we went to the Farmers Market, a long-awaited to-do from Christina. When strolling and looking left and right, we noticed a small stand with a friendly dealer of self-made rings. We stayed there for a few minutes and now we both have a souvenir from Canada.
Before we drove on, we drank a coffee at the market and then we headed towards Campbell River :)
There we informed ourselves about whale watching tours and visited a provider directly at the port. What can we say, after a short thought, the seats were booked for tomorrow. In the end we decided on a boat tour that should take us 4 hours across the water to see the most diverse creatures in the region.
After this point of the day, which was already exciting for us, we jetted off to a small pretty beach, the Miracle Beach, for a bit of relaxation. That was very good after all the driving that day :)
In the evening we found a nice spot twenty minutes from Campbell River in Oyster Bay Shoreline Park, where we could leisurely cook and spend the evening by the water balancing on logs and watching a crane.

For the whale watching tour we got up early to hit the jetty at 8:30am. The tour lasted four hours and was accompanied by two nice and competent guides. We drove across the sea in a motor boat and the two kept getting information from other boats where animals had been sighted. And we were lucky - to the south of us an orca family was sighted and we were able to observe the fins of the animals from a distance of 200m, as prescribed, since we accompanied them for about 1 mile. The woman behind us was able to take a really great photo, which you can see here. However, the most exciting thing was watching the whales with binoculars.
The tour continued across the sea, past many islands off Vancouver Island (the boat ride alone was an experience in itself) and we saw a horde of chilling sea lions and an eagle.
All in all it was a great experience, also because we had a good feeling about the provider and the people on site who pay attention to the welfare of the animals.
Quite shaken up and blown away by the wind, we then started our way back towards Qualicum Beach. There, after a coffee stop, we decided to set off today towards Tofino and the "wild" Pacific coast.
We stopped in the middle at Sproat Lake (Martin found this spot on iOverlander as it promised warm showers). We shouldn't be disappointed. An incredibly idyllic place (with a wash house and actually warm showers!!) right on the water. We enjoyed the evening with (as always) a delicious dinner and a walk along the water :)

What can we say - the spot at Sproat Lake should be one of our favorite spots of the trip so far, if not THE SPOT. We haven't slept so well in a long time and especially so long. After we had finally made it out of bed at ten o'clock, we sat down again for breakfast at the wonderfully cozy lake. But we had to keep going, because today's destination is Tofino, the super popular surfing hotspot on Vancouver Island. We are already very excited.
After arriving in the tiny little town, we strolled a bit through the main street and then walked the Tonquin Beach Trail. This is the guide's top pick for first-time visitors to Tofino. Yes, the trail is really highly recommended. Super great nature, blatantly grown trees and perfect beaches as a reward :)
Since Tofino itself wasn't as crazy as described in the travel guide, we drove south again to its counterpart Ucluelet - called Uce. Quite small and less touristy :)
There we spontaneously entered the first part of the Wild Pacific Trail, which fortunately is a circular route.
This first part was really a natural spectacle again. Even if the trail itself was super boring, it was beautifully laid out.
In the evening we spent the night with other campers at the entrance of the Lost Forest Trail :)

Today it was "The early bird" again... and we started with the second part of the Wild Pacific Trail along the coast of Uce. This again ran past great vantage points and went faster than expected overall (since the path is anything but “wild”). After that we relaxed for a few hours on Cox Bay Beach in the sunniest weather. Unfortunately, swimming wasn't possible because the water of the Pacific is really, really, VERY cold here. When walking in, your feet burn directly.
During the course of the day we got the feeling that we had seen everything important here in the corner and so we made our way back (on Vancouver Island you double up quite a lot of the way because there are few roads) and stopped at our favorite spot so far - Sproat Lake. We had it all to ourselves in the evening - really romantic

In the morning we woke up again after a good night's sleep in familiar surroundings to have breakfast one last time at the great Sproat Lake.
Then a very kilometer-intensive day began... Shortly after the start of the journey we stopped in the very fascinating MacMillan Provincial Park, which we had already noticed on the way there because of the super great-looking trees. And he kept what he promised. Never in our life have we seen such large and mighty trees (Douglas firs). Most impressive of all was the 800 year old Big Tree in the middle of the park.

After this great stop we went on to Parksville to take a deposit away (we are simply too German - very few Canadians do that) and to have lunch at the already known beach from the beginning of our road trip on Vancouver Island.
Then we went further south, looking for a nice spot to stay overnight. We found what we were looking for in Bamberton Provincial Park, which actually had a wash house with an outdoor shower.
Just perfect, we thought and spent the evening comfortably with good food.
However, it has finally caught up with us. After we had been in the car for two hours, there was a knock on our window and the super friendly lady from the park security asked us to drive and find another place to stay. She was kind enough to give us a few tips and apologized profusely...really super nice this woman!
After about half an hour of driving through the darkness, we ended up at a trail parking lot in West Shawnigan Lake Provincial Park. Basically a great spot, but it was really super dark here. Christina prayed to her bladder, because peeing at night could certainly have called for a coffee party with a bear. But don't worry - everything went well.

Our next destination was the Juan de Fuca Marine National Park. From this we hope to hike a little deeper into nature or in the wild rainforest and marvel at beautiful nature. We decided in advance to walk a short trail to the Botanical Beach at the end of the park and also to do a day's stage of the Juan Fuca de Marine Trail (47 km in total) from Miracle Beach to Brown Beach!
Spontaneously we decided this morning for the second, ie 16 km and about 600 hm lay ahead of us.
With plenty of provisions and the bear spray in our luggage (we also got a little uneasy that there are pumas and panthers here as well as bears) we started this rainforest hike along the coast. This rainforest here is really amazing: super dense forest, literally sloping trees, the ground full of ferns - all along the coast with great views of the water. After 2 km we reached Mystical Beach and after about 3 hours we had reached the milestone Brown Beach at 8.5 km. After a long break on the beach, it was time to return, with an iron will and the prospect of swimming at Mystical Beach and showering in the waterfall, we managed it without any problems. The shower was absolutely amazing and we arrived broken and happy at the car.
We then found a great overnight spot near the road with a view of the coast and an absolutely blatant starry sky at night.

Despite a wonderful spot and an indescribable starry sky, the night wasn't as great as expected. It was definitely not due to this wonderful spot. Rather on our air mattress, which of course had to give up the ghost just in time for our overnight stay in the car.
After we woke up in the morning with a bit of a cracking back and shoulders and were able to start the day after extensive stretching, we drove straight to the Botanical Beach Trail. When we got there, we first had a delicious breakfast and meanwhile we could admire a great-looking Steller's Jay. Not a Blue Jay, but at least a Jay :D
After we had taken what felt like 50 pictures of this great creature, we entered the very relaxed and undemanding circular route. Exactly the right thing after yesterday's exhausting trail.
The circular route went back down to the Botanical Bay Beach through a forest that was not boring and fascinating to look at. We actually wanted to go back from this beach to the circular path towards Botanical Beach, but the beach was so incredible that we - like almost everyone who was with us - just continued on the beach and thus on the rocks directly on the water went. Here we could admire small water holes with mussels, crabs, sea urchins and various other creatures. Out of sheer amazement, we continued to walk along the water after the Botanical Beach and after a short meal we realized that we had walked almost a kilometer too far. To our surprise, the path signposted at this point was again part of the Juan de Fuca Trail up to the circular path :D
All in all, this Botanical Beach Trail was definitely a very nice experience.
After that we drove to China Beach with the attitude to lie in the sun a bit and if necessary to be able to swim in the ice-cold Pacific. Unfortunately, the plan didn't really work out because it was very windy and we had trouble keeping the towels on the floor. In addition, the permanent pinch of sand in the face was not so pleasant ;-)
Nevertheless, Christina did not let herself be dissuaded from lying on the beach and began to read. Martin, on the other hand, was too uncomfortable, so he went for a long walk, even with a new chat from another traveler.
At the end of the day we drove to Langford to spend the evening and night at Glen Lake. On the way to Langford we were able to watch a cloudy natural spectacle. Because the cloud cover was very low, so we partially drove over it. You can see it a bit in the last photo. Because of this, the beach pictures are partly so foggy, because the fog had already arrived there.
So much for that - tomorrow is our last day on Vancouver Island and the end of our stay in Canada is slowly approaching.

The last day on Vancouver Island dawns. We started it with a morning swim in the lake and then were disappointed that the lakeside showers didn't work to shower us off afterwards.
We took this as an opportunity to relax for a few hours in the local recreation center (a mixture of indoor pool, sauna and fitness studio) in the midst of swimming courses and to take a long shower.
Next stop: Bottle Depot :D on Saturday morning we meet deposit collectors and the Canadians, who collect their deposits at home by cellar and garage, and then spend hours sorting them by type in the parking lot, in order to then get back 10 cents per plastic container. And we in the middle with our remaining 8 cans and bottles...
After that there was still time for a short coffee stop in Sydney and then we went to the ferry. We enjoyed the ferry ride on the sun deck and with great views of the islands.
Arriving on the mainland, we needed about an hour in the traffic in Vancouver and drove through what is probably the most blatant rich district in the city. Martin could hardly concentrate on the traffic :D
We reached the beach near the hostel we will be checking into tomorrow and spent a great summer evening at Spanish Banks Beach with hundreds of others who were ending the day at the beach with BBQ, music, volleyball etc. Simply wonderful with a view of the skyline and the surrounding mountains!
The last night in the car on the completely deflated mattress was so semi :D

One last time for the time being we have breakfast with our camping dishes and drink the coffee brewed by the gas cooker on the beach before we drop off the rental car at the airport - everything goes smoothly!
We took the Canada Line to the city and to celebrate the day we treat ourselves to a second breakfast at Tim Horton's #bestcoffee
After that we went to the beach all day and let ourselves sizzle at a pleasant 17 degrees :)

We spent the last few days in Canada at the HI Canada Hostel on Jericho Beach in Vancouver and approached them very relaxed. Martin and I were in the 14-person male or female dormitory and the hostel is basically okay. However, we didn't feel 100% comfortable, there is no really comfortable lounge area and the kitchen mostly looks like a mess and you have to fear a gas explosion, almost all stovetops are out of order (as are most of the toilets and sinks)
We used the time to find out something about Mexico and to wash again.
Among other things, Martin's highlight was playing beach volleyball for a few hours with the people from the hostel in the evening. That was a lot of fun and Martin has been connected at the hostel ever since 😉
Downtown we finally made it unsafe on the third day. We joined a free walking tour - again very informative and with a nice guide. After the tour we walked through the city on our own and treated ourselves to burgers for the first time in Canada at A&W. During the tour of the city, we also passed Hastings Street, the street with an incredible number of drug addicts and homeless people. The city forces them to stay in certain parts of the city so as not to disrupt the "business as usual" of the rest of downtown. It's just frightening to experience this gap between poor and sometimes really filthy rich so directly here in Vancouver.
In any case, we walked an incredible amount that day :D
The next day we drove back into town to visit the Farmers Market, drink coffee and visit English Bay Beach to eat incredibly expensive ice cream there (4€ for two scoops) and then in a pub all the more to drink cheaper beer (50% on Heineken :D)
At that point we were absolutely fed up with walking, so we decided to rent bikes the next day and cycle around the rest of the city (including Stanley Park). That was great because we got really good bikes. From the rental we then went straight to Stanley Park and once completely around it (about 8km) jetted. Then we drove back into the park. It's great to have such a huge and plant-rich park in the middle of a metropolis like Vancouver. We liked that very much and we can now understand the previous hype about this park. Then we cycled a bit along the beautiful promenade around Downtown, West End and Gastown.

Arriving back at the hostel, we were greeted with free tacos in front of the front door :D...a little attunement to what's to come ;-)
We then spent our last evening in Canada at Jericho Beach. Incidentally, Jericho Park is right next to our hostel, through which we walked every day and saw an incredible number of animals. There are lots of hares hopping around and we even saw beavers and on our last day an eagle owl. Craziness!

On the last morning we left early for the airport, where we said goodbye to Canada with a burger at Wendy's (the best burger in a fast food chain) and coffee from Tim Hortons.
All in all it was a great time, but we are now really looking forward to Mexico and Central America <3