Kayaking BC's Broken Group Islands (Jul 15-19)

After a long hiatus from blogging during which we have pit stopped for some days visiting with friends and family in Paris, then Toronto, then briefly in Ottawa, we are now in British Columbia enjoying the wild west coast mountains and ocean. Stop #1 out here is sea kayaking on the far west coast of Vancouver Island where there is a cluster of some 50 islands that form a park. Half a dozen of these can be camped on while the rest are pretty hard to land on and walk around. To get here you board the ferry boat shown below in Port Alberni and take a 3 hr journey out of the fjord-like inlet to the far west coast of Vancouver Island. The ferry drops you off on a dock where some rented kayaks are waiting and you begin to stuff everything you need to survive for the next days into the 'holds' of the kayaks.

The outer islands of this set are open to the Pacific Ocean and require some care before venturing out. The water here is about 12 degrees and a typical day has it calm and foggy in the morning with the fog beginning to dissipate as noon approaches only to be replaced by a wind that gets stronger as the day progresses which creates whitecaps usually by 1 in the afternoon. So the rhythm here is get up early, don't get lost in the fog, explore, and then hunker down for the afternoon. Below is the view in the morning... then followed by the afternoon.

The temperature almost never gets warmer than 18 because of the cool wind blowing off the ocean and night time temperatures are constant at the temperature of the surrounding ocean (12 degrees). Meanwhile the backdrop to all this is the high mountains of Vancouver Island rising straight up from the water.

While out exploring during the day Lori got up the nerve to jump into the water (for about 1.5 seconds!) brave soul and we also came across a 'sea arch' which we paddled through ... or should we say surfed through with the surge of small ocean swells gushing through.

This is not the kind of trip you do for warm relaxing in the sun, but for the stimulation of the scenery and the amount of life in the ocean and skies. Over the course of 4 days we saw seals, schools of small fish, many eagles, hummingbirds and even some deer who were surprisingly accustomed to people. And then there are the amazing tidal pools formed as the tide recedes and the huge variation of small crabs, minnows, anemones, starfish, etc, etc that go scurrying every which way when you turn over any rock. We also found a few original giant cedars which have managed to survive the lumberman's chainsaw.

Pools of brightly coloured starfish abound everywhere...

These deer (doe and fawn) swam over to our island and walked by while we were eating supper. I'm eating vegetarian indian food by the way!

Just one of many beach scenes....at low tide....

The magic of tall stately trees....

Our next plan is to shift over to the northeast side of Vancouver Island and kayak there in the Johnstone strait where there is supposed to be several resident pods of killer whales (orcas) that frequent the channel and are known to swim close to the shore. Will we be lucky?

Cinque Terre (Jun 21 - 24)

Well a big thank you to Sarah Lee and Mark for planting the idea of this lovely place in our mind! Our only regret is that we only had 4 days to spend here. It was the ideal place for us to end our Italian journey.

Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 small towns each uniquely located on the coastline in northern Italy - quite close to the border with France. Some villages are perched on cliff-tops while others are clustered within the small valleys between the hills. They are only connected by coastal foot paths and train.....so although there are plenty of tourists, there are relatively few cars....bliss! There are also various other trails inland to other villages.




























We chose to stay in a lovely bright, attic apartment in Montorrosso (the most northerly of the 5 towns). The Raso familia are very warm and sincere.... and invited us to sample their limoncello homemade (their are lemon trees in their yard)!

We were fortunate to spend time wandering around each village, walking the coastal trails, as well as relaxing on the beach and hitting the beautiful clear ocean when it became hot. The water is the perfect temperature to help you feel refreshed without feeling cool.














It was hard to leave but alas, it had to be.....ciao Italy! Thanks for a lovely time!














So now we head for time with friends in Paris and then its off to Canada!

Lucca (Jun 19,20)

Lucca lies 2 hrs to the north of Rome, back in Tuscany again and is a unique town of 80 thousand people or so. Unlike other Tuscan towns this one is flat, not built on a hill top, and as a result is full of bikes. It too is surrounded by a wall that is very broad on top wide enough for pathways with lots of trees and is always full of people jogging, cycling, walking their dogs, etc.















We decided to use it to picnic on our first day and due to lack of glasses we tried (but probably failed) at discretion and decoram....let us know what you think.....see photo of John drinking vino rosso....














Its a wonderful town to get away to and yet still has its share of impressive churches built in the 1200s (some with facades looking a bit like big multi-tiered wedding cake).














We had a nice time here, staying in a place that was an old converted monastery with a room spread over 2 levels and windows looking out over the terracotta roof tops of the town. If one really needed to get away, relax and sip capuccinos in the piazzas then this is one of the places to go!














We stayed just a couple of days because we really wanted to head a bit further north and get back to the sea before leaving Italy.