Living in Paradise

       Well there is something Ive wanted to do for a long time and finally made the time to do it. Now i don't have a written bucket list but there are a handful of things i would like to do and when i do them i scratch them off my imaginary bucket list. Seeing Killer whales was one of them. learning to count to 100 was another one as well as learning the alphabet. I love wild life and ever since Ive been out here I have heard about a place that you can visit and see wild Grizzly Bears. So I had a weeks holidays coming up and I decided I was going to do it so a couple months ago I booked an excursion online. Now Patty isnt into some of t5he things I like but she gladly lets me go do my thing.

       Patty has a friend Dianne that lives with her husband Chris, daughter Carmen and dog Princess in Comox. I must add that I now consider them friends of mine. They came to visit us a while back and i had mentioned to them what I had planned on going and if it would be ok if i dropped Patty off on my way by. I was going to Telegraph Cove closer to the top of the island and Comox is half way. Its kind of weird how you can go to a place you've never been and feel right at home. That's how they made us feel from the time we finally found their home. My phone died which had the gps on it and Patty's phone is well ..... crappy lol. Doesn't help that Patty can't read a map and gets lost in a parking lot. Also their house is on a corner and we turned onto their street but there driveway is on the other street. We called and they came out and saved us.

       After sitting and chatting for a while we went for a walk and picked some beans and tomatoes for supper from their green house and garden. Talk about your fresh vegetables! They have multiple varieties of cherry tomatoes and we were eating them right off the plant. Sweet as apples even the bigger ones.We had a roast chicken dinner with potatoes and fresh green beans with salad and oven baked bread that Chris insisted we eat after he went through all the trouble of getting it ready.

      I was having such a good time that i didn't want to leave but it was getting late and i still had at least 3 hours to go. In the first 3 minutes i seen about 30 deer and at one point had to come to a complete stop because 4 of them were on the road. It got dark fast but there's not a lot to see other than trees and deer lol. I got to Telegraph Cove before 11pm. I drove around and checked the area out and then went driving to find a place to park my car and crash for the night. That's right i slept in the car. It wasn't too bad, i put the back seats down and had my feet in the trunk. It wasn't that cold out either.

      I got up at about 6am and drove down to the main area where i parked and went into the washroom facilities to clean up and charge my phone. I found out we were leaving after 8am instead of 7am because they have to go with the tide to get us up the river. Gave me time to wander around. I had been there when i first got to the island when Nikko, Shannon and I would take drives on the weekend. The place didn't feel the same as it did back then as some of the old wood buildings are gone and a big motel is there now. Kind of like the changes at Coombs Country Market but that's another story.

We checked in then went down to the boats waiting at the end of the dock. There are 3 boats and they take up to 12 people on each boat. All 3 boats were going out only 2 were full. It was a beautiful day and the water was so calm. We were given a safety talk and then we were on our way. They had coffee, tea and hot chocolate as well as muffins on board. Its about 2 hours to Knights Inlet. On the way we saw some Dahl Porpoises which look like little killer whales. They are so fast I couldn't get a decent photo but they were fun to watch. There are supposed to be some around the south end of the island but of all the times Ive gone whale watching we've never spotted any. As we continued I spotted some weird movement on the water not far from us and when I asked what is that they said Pacific White Sided Dolphins and slowed down to watch. The dolphins were feeding so we stayed back to watch. They circle around real fast and make bubbles to confuse the little fish then they move in for the feast.

They then showed us some native land that is not inhabited any longer and there was an old cabin. They said the white beach near the cabin is all clam shells. After ceremonies where they ate clams they would put all the shells on this beach. From a distance it looks like a nice white beach.

Next are some scenery shots as we got closer to Knights Inlet. The one photo is of landslides that happened a couple years ago after a long dry season. Then it rained for a few days straight and they believe there was a small earth quake. The other shot is clouds and mountains. The third shot is a boat we passed on our way.