Remember the TV Series-“The Prisoner” . . .

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Do you remember the old TV series called “The Prisoner”? Patrick McGoohan played an agent who wanted to retire from the Secret Service (British) but they wouldn’t let him out into the regular population. Instead he was renamed No. 6 and entrapped on an island. Every time he tried to leave the island, these huge balloons came out of the ocean and stopped him or, at least, that’s what I remember most clearly.

That’s what it’s felt like the past few weeks. Every time we’ve made plans to leave Vancouver Island, these big balloons come out of the ocean to stop us. Well, that isn’t entirely true – it’s life and circumstances (mostly the weather) that are out of our control.

Plan A was to leave Nanaimo and the Westwood Lake RV Park when our month was up on March 16^th and start the trek back to Lethbridge. Then the weather started to get nicer and we thought about Plan B. We would still leave the RV park and Nanaimo but go up island aways and find a place right on the ocean for a couple of weeks. As the 16^th grew nearer, we became painfully aware just how much the cost of gas had gone up (7¢ in just one day) and just decided to cut our losses and start back.

Lo and behold, up comes the 17^th storm of the season. We woke a few days before we were scheduled to leave and discovered there had been massive rock slides in the Fraser Canyon (between Lytton and Spence’s Bridge) that washed out about 36 kilometres of road, railway tracks and fibre optics. As well, there was a mud slide on Highway 1 near Bridal Falls west of Hope that was stopping traffic. Oops! Not the time to head eastward. So we pulled out our trusty Passport America guide and have ended up here at Qualicum Bay.

We haven’t been sorry about our decision – we needed to move on but weren’t quite ready to head back. A bit of anxiety when we remembered we really hadn't moved for 5 months and there are things you forget!!

All the inside stuff stayed in place - I was so pleased.

We're at Qualicum Bay Resort in Bowser and the ocean is right across the road.

I went out for a walk the other morning and had quite a conversation with the sea gulls. They are in great abundance and folks around here say there must be some connection with the herring run and that they have never seen so many all in one place.

Just being in someplace different has calmed me down considerably and we’ve been exploring again – that is oh, so, nice.

Our first outing was to Horne Lake. It is a Provincial Park up a very bad logging road on the side of Mount Mark with its $22.00 per night Provincial Campground fee (no services, boil your water, etc). It is billed as being one of the great wilderness adventure places on the island but pricey. A three hour guide tour through the caves will cost you $54. You can do a self-guided tour but it wasn’t recommended except for the main cave and the smaller cave. I’m sure that

some of these exorbitant fees have priced the natural beauty of the island right out of reach of many local people. We stuck our heads and the camera in but went no further.

The ocean and the beaches are the primary attraction for us here. Walks along the beaches – trying not to get caught in the in-coming tides and visiting places we’ve been before and, of course, indulging in the fish and seafood.

We headed to a ship-restaurant we remembered at Union Bay only to find it closed down and falling down. The tide was out and we watched some folks digging clams and picking oysters on the beach. There were Sea Lions lounging around way out on a big log boom. We couldn’t see them all that well but we could hear them loud and clear. As we walked along the beach, I managed to just miss stepping on the first LIVE star fish I have ever seen. I realized I had only seen dry, dead ones before and this one was bright purple and very much alive.

Parksville, Qualicum Beach – great sand beaches to walk along and sit and listen to the sounds of the ocean. I am constantly fascinated with the smells of the ocean – something I never noticed before.

Today is the first day of spring and the blossoms and bud are starting to come out. In my mind, that doesn’t make one iota of difference – there is still snow and cold weather in Lethbridge but our Plan C is to head back next week-end (March 25th).

Visiting the City and Friends

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Mike is an old friend!! I knew him in Lethbridge and Fred met him on Long Beach so many years ago. We haven’t seen him for at least 25 years. The amazing thing is that even after all those years; we just picked up where we left off. We caught up on all the major events like travels and children but carried on with the stories and adventures we shared so many years ago. Old adventures revisited – new adventures began.

As we toured around Victoria, Fred told me all kinds of stories from his notorious past and we even went down to Chinatown and had a wonderful dinner at a place Fred had frequented in his younger days. As always, we were drawn to the water and spent a good amount of time walking along the beaches.

Of all the places we have frequented, Victoria ranks pretty close to the top as a city we could live in (not saying that either of us want to live in a city). Even here there is unbelievable development but somehow the city, itself, has managed to retain a link with its history and the natural beauty that surrounds it – impeccable gardens everywhere, crowded long walkways along the shore and always a greeting as you meet others on the paths.

From Victoria, we took a jaunt up the west coast to Sooke. Sooke is certainly more laid back than Victoria but again there is construction everywhere. We both commented on how busy the road was, even though it was the middle of the day in the middle of the week. Sooke had been hit pretty hard with the winter storms. Some remnants of fallen trees remained but they seem to have survived well.

Being folks who tend to travel on our stomachs, when Mom’s Kitchen was recommended for lunch, we were going to take advantage of the opportunity. We were not disappointed. It reminded me a lot of “Peggy Sue” in California but more genuine, traditional and better food. It came complete with a real jute box complete with outlets in each booth and a great old wood stove.

The day was warm and sunny and again, we were drawn to the ocean.

Whiffin Spit (I love the name) is a breakwater accessible right in the middle of town. We sat and watched the waves come and go and splash up against the shore.

How can you possible describe the sight, the sound and mostly the smell of the ocean? A total assault on all your senses!!

This outing put the icing on the cake – we came back to Nanaimo and gave our notice to leave the 16^th of March.

Where to? Much depends on the weather. Chances are that the passes still won't be easily passable so we are searching out a different place here on the island.

It is definitely Spring - you can feel it in the air.

Oh, BTW, I’ve had another article accepted. I’ll let you know when it will be in the RV Times.